It was not deja-vu all over again.
The London Knights entered the third period with a 5-1 lead for the second time in two nights but gave up very little on their way to a 6-2 victory over the Oshawa Generals in Game 4 of the OHL Championship series.
The win gives London a three-games-to-one lead heading home to Canada Life Place for Game 5 on Thursday May 15.
Knights forward Kasper Halttunen recorded a hat trick for the second consecutive game.
London defender Sam Dickinson scored twicde and added two assists.
Easton Cowan of London had a pair of assists to give him ten points in his past three games.
The teams came through the first period scoreless despite a shared five power play chances.
The second period was a totally different story.
London scored five times and took the same 5-1 lead to the third period that they brought into the final frame in Game 3.
Sam Dickinson opened the scoring at 6:27 when Henry Brzustewicz forced a turnover just inside the Oshawa blue line just as the Generals were leaving the zone. Dickinson picked up the puck behind the defence and beat Jacob Oster with a deke for his eighth goal of the playoffs (most among OHL defencemen) and first goal of the Championship series.
London went up 2-0 when Kasper Halttunen swept home a rebound off a Jared Woolley slap shot and then Easton Cowan fed Dickinson for his second of the game on a two-on-one and the Knights lead was 3-0 just over 13 minutes into the middle period.
The assist for Cowan moved him into a second place tie with Stan Drulia on the Ontario Hockey League’s all-time playoff points list. Cowan would later move one point ahead of Drulia.
Just 11 seconds after that goal, Oshawa defenceman Andrew Gibson scored off a faceoff in the London end to make it 3-1 but the Knights responded right away as Landon Sim knocked a puck across the Generals blue line that goaltender Oster came out to play.
The puck deflected up into the air and Sim batted it into the Oshawa net for his 11th goal of the playoffs, only 35 seconds after the Generals goal and London’s lead was back to three.
A later second period power play goal by Halttunen pushed the score to that familiar 5-1.
Cal Ritchie scored 41 seconds into the third period for Oshawa to cut make it a three-goal game.
Halttunen completed his hat trick at 9:37 by beating Isaac Gravelle who entered the Generals net to begin the final 20 minutes.
That ended the scoring for the game. The Knights outshot Oshawa 39-25, while London was 2-for-6 on the power play and 5-for-5 on the penalty kill.
Former Knights and area players into AHL quarter-finals
The quarterfinals are set in the American Hockey League and there are four former Knights and three area players chasing the Calder Cup.
Andrew Perrott – Hershey
Michael Houser – Rochester
Logan Mailloux – Laval
Tonio Stranges – Texas (injured)
Ty Glover from London, Ont., is playing for the Abbotsford Canucks and Isaac Ratcliffe of London, Ont., and Navrin Mutter of Lucan, Ont., are both with the Milwaukee Admirals.
Up next
Game 5 of the OHL Championship series will take place on Thursday, May 15 at 7 p.m., at Canada Life Place in London, Ont.
For tickets or ticket information you can visit http://www.londonknights.com
Coverage will begin at 6:30 p.m., on 980 CFPL at 980cfpl.ca and on the iHeart Radio and Radioplayer Canada apps.