Game 5 was virtually identical Game 4 - - even had the exact same score. Once again Oshawa couldn’t manage to hold onto a pair of one goal leads in the 3rd period, and when you can’t do that in the playoffs you really don’t deserve to win.
Generals dominated the first OT period, just as they dominated OT in Game 4. But once again a defensive breakdown cost them the game. This time they got running around in their own zone - - D’Amato unsuccessfully chasing Vilmanis around the perimeter, then Ritchie couldn’t keep up with Nelson and finally Marrelli just basically stood there and waved his stick as Nelson blew past him for the winner.
Really have to wonder how much fatigue played a part in this loss for Oshawa. They rolled three lines for the entire game, and when overtime came around the third line had their minutes cut.
After Rodriguez couldn’t handle Romani alone in front of the net for North Bay’s first goal, he hardly saw the ice again. And then in overtime, they cut it down to just four defensemen as Sandhu sat for all but two shifts.
It’s completely unrealistic to expect players to log that much ice time and not have their play affected by fatigue.
Jake Oster was brilliant in net for the first 30mins to the extent that I honestly believed he wasn’t going to let anything get by him, but once Romani got that first goal his play dipped noticeably. In the 3rd period, he was looking behind himself at least three times after making a save - - that’s never reassuring to see from your goalie.