Battalion eliminates Petes

Parker Vaughan’s second goal of the game, at 17:09 of the second overtime period, lifted the North Bay Battalion past the Peterborough Petes 5-4 Saturday night and into the second round of the Ontario Hockey League playoffs.

Fifth-place North Bay captured the best-of-seven Eastern Conference quarterfinal series 4-2 and will face the first-place Brantford Bulldogs in a conference semifinal.

Ethan Procyszyn, who forced overtime at 19:54 of the third period, also scored two goals and Cam Warren had one goal and one assist. Goaltender Jack Lisson faced 56 shots before a boisterous crowd of 3,728 at Boart Longyear Memorial Gardens in the third-longest game in Battalion franchise history.

Yanis Lutz and Kieron Walton each had one goal and one assist, and Leon Kolarik and Adam Levac also scored for fourth-place Peterborough, which got 39 saves from goaltender Easton Rye.

“It’s hard to win in our league, and I’m proud of the guys to be able to finish this off at home and win a playoff series,” said Battalion coach Ryan Oulahen. “Not a lot of teams get to do this. What is there, eight left, and we’re one of them.”

Vaughan netted the winner after the Battalion hemmed the Petes in their own zone and applied sustained pressure. Evgeny Dubrovtsev stripped Adam Novotny of the puck on the end boards and fed it to Vaughan in the right circle for his team-leading fourth goal of the playoffs. The Troops killed an elbowing penalty to Procyszyn earlier in the frame.

Exclaimed Oulahen: “Holy cow! What a play, the winning goal. We really finally started to get some traction and had the pedal down there. We made some really good changes. Dubrovtsev jumps on, keeps the puck alive and then makes a beautiful pass. Parker Vaughan, what a shot.”

Peterborough outshot the Battalion 13-9 in the first overtime period and had the best scoring chance in the seventh minute, but James Petrovski missed an open net from the left circle after corralling the rebound of a Carson Cameron drive. Nick Wellenreiter was whistled for goaltender interference at 17:59, but the Petes managed only one good scoring chance when Levac drove to the net off the ensuing faceoff.

Peterborough, which trailed 3-1 at the second intermission, erased the deficit with two goals 51 seconds apart, sparked by Lutz at 5:22. He took a pass from Garrett Frazer, cruised across the high slot and snapped the puck over Lisson’s blocker. Levac tied it when he redirected a loose puck from the lip of the crease.

Walton put the Petes ahead at 15:18 when he one-timed a pass from Braydon McCallum past Lisson’s glove from the high slot.

Lisson was on the bench for a sixth skater when Graydon Strohack went off for tripping Procyszyn at 19:25. Procyszyn tied it after Rye blocked Kent Greer’s shot from the mid blue line. The rebound fell to Procyszyn, who backhanded the puck home from the slot for his third goal. Wellenreiter had the second assist.

The Petes opened the scoring on their first shot at 8:38 of the first period. Lutz caused a turnover at the left point and fed the puck to Francis Parish, who whipped a backhanded cross-ice pass to Kolarik for the conversion.

The Troops erupted for three goals in a span of 6:26 in the second period, with Warren tying it 1-1 on the power play at 6:25 when he beat Rye low to the stick side from above the left circle. Brandt Harper and Dubrovtsev assisted on Warren’s third goal, the Battalion’s first power-play marker of the series.

Vaughan connected with the man advantage at 10:05, ripping a wrister high over Rye’s glove from the right circle. Warren and Greer earned assists. Procyszyn then struck at 12:51, slipping the puck between Rye’s pads from the slot. Sebastien Gervais and Wellenreiter assisted.

BATTALION BULLETS: The Battalion has won 22 of 44 all-time playoff series, including 13 of 22 since relocating to North Bay. The Troops have an all-time won-lost record of 9-8 in the sixth game of playoff series, including 3-4 at home. The club is 4-4 since relocation … In his first OHL postseason action, Lisson has a 4-2 won-lost record, a 1.71 goals-against average, a .950 save percentage and two shutouts. Both losses came in overtime … The Troops allowed more than 50 shots in a playoff game for the first time since the Niagara IceDogs recorded 57 in Game 4 of a conference quarterfinal on March 29, 2019 … The Battalion went 3-for-4 on the power play. Peterborough was 0-for-5 … Opening lines featured Procyszyn centring left winger Ryder Cali and right winger Wellenreiter, Kaden Pitre centring left winger Gervais and right winger Lirim Amidovski and Warren pivoting left winger Nolan Laird and right winger Vaughan. Dubrovtsev centred left winger Shamar Moses and right winger Ryder Carey … Defence pairs saw Bronson Ride with Adrian Manzo, Aaron Enright with Greer and Carter Kunopaski with Harper … The Battalion was without Jonathan Kapageridis, Alexander Karmanov, Hayden Barch and Arseny Pronin … Mike McIvor, who was suspended for two games after drawing a match penalty in overtime of a 2-1 home-ice loss Sunday in Game 3, backed up Lisson … Moses returned after losing eight games to an injury suffered in practice … Scott Ferguson and David Elford were the referees.