Lukas Bernasiewicz
The Oakville Buzz have tied their playoff series against the Toronto Beaches at 1-1 after winning 8-4 Friday night on the road.
Oakville’s win over Toronto in game two was a completely different game than their 8-6 loss in the first game of the series.
In game one, the Buzz struggled mightily to create any offence.
They started the game down 2-0 at the end of the first period, with Toronto playing a phenomenal defensive system.
The Beaches cut off most of Oakville’s passes and did not let the Buzz set up in the offensive zone.
Once Oakville did set up to get a chance, the ball always seemed to be stopped by Toronto’s goalie.
Oakville did bounce back in the second period by scoring two quick goals to tie the game, but Toronto came back and scored three unanswered goals to go up 5-2.
The Buzz got one goal back before the end of the second period and went into the intermission only down two.
Oakville did accomplish their goal of scoring three times in the third, but unfortunately, Toronto also scored three times, and game one finished with a score of 8-6 for the Beaches.
But game two told a completely different story.
Oakville got an early lead in the first period and took that one-goal lead to the first intermission.
After surrendering a goal in the first minute of the second period, the Buzz rattled off six unanswered goals, with three coming from Will Sheehan, one from Jack Macalpine, one from Captain Chris Dong, and one coming from Jake Wright to give the Buzz a 7-1 lead heading into the third period.
Oakville was slightly scared when Toronto scored 7-4, but Zach Coulman scored with just under four minutes left to seal an 8-4 win for the squad.
So how can Oakville win this series?
It’s easy to suggest that the team copies their formula from game two, but the team needs to play like they did in game two to win what will now be a best-of-three series.
Oakville needs to keep their momentum and go on more five, six, or seven-goal runs as they did in game two with their second-period run.
The Buzz finally figured out how to generate more offence in game two, which is the biggest key for them in games three, four and five.
If the team continues to play with the same offensive pace they had in game two and can shut down Toronto’s offence to around four goals, Oakville will have a great chance at winning this series.
Game three will be played on Sunday at 2 p.m. at the Toronto Rock Athletic Center.
