NORTH BAY, Ont. – Sandis Vilmanis’s second goal of the game, scored at 6:02 of overtime, lifted the North Bay Battalion to a 5-4 victory over the visiting Oshawa Generals in the Ontario Hockey League’s Eastern Conference final series on Wednesday.
The win prevented a series sweep by the Generals, who still lead the best-of-seven matchup 3-1 with Game 5 set for Friday at Tribute Communities Centre in Oshawa, Ont.
Liam Arnsby, Sandis Vilmanis, Tnias Mathurin and Paul Christopoulos also scored for the Battalion, who outshot the visitors 43-31.
Beckett Sennecke scored twice for the Generals, while Connor Lockhart and Dylan Roobroeck added singles.
The Generals won the first three games of the series 4-2, 3-0 and 5-2.
Elsewhere in the OHL on Wednesday:
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KNIGHTS 7 SPIRIT 3
(London leads best-of-seven series 3-1)
SAGINAW, Mich. — Sam O’Reilly scored twice and added two assists as the visiting London Knights defeated the Saginaw Spirit 7-3 on Wednesday to take a commanding 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven OHL Western Conference final series.
Sam Dickinson, Landon Sim, Oliver Bonk, Easton Cowan and Isaiah George (empty net) also scored for the Knights, who led 2-1 after the first period and 4-3 heading into the third.
Calem Mangone, Jorian Donovan and Owen Beck scored for the Spirit, who will be the host team for the 2024 Memorial Cup that runs from May 24 to June 2 at the Dow Event Center in Saginaw.
The Spirit outshot the Knights 37-28 and went 2-for-6 on the power play. The Knights went 1-for-2 with the man advantage.
The Knights opened the series with a pair of 3-1 wins at home, then lost Game 3 on Monday in Saginaw 6-2.
Game 5 is Friday at the Budweiser Gardens in London, Ont.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 1, 2024.
