Battalion Win A Close One
Andrew LeBlanc’s power-play goal at 4:21 of the third period proved the winner as the North Bay Battalion slipped past the Erie Otters 4-3 in a chippy Ontario Hockey League game Thursday night.
Sandis Vilmanis scored one goal and added two assists, and Owen Van Steensel and Jacob Therrien had a goal apiece for North Bay, which got 21 saves from goaltender Dom DiVincentiis before 2,414 at Memorial Gardens.
The Battalion moved its won-lost-extended record to 21-14-6 for 48 points, second in the Central Division and still one point behind the Sudbury Wolves, who downed the host Barrie Colts 7-3. The Troops won a third straight game, matching their season high.
Sam Alfano had one goal and one assist, while Pano Fimis and Dylan Edwards also scored for Erie, 19-17-4 for 42 points, fourth in the Midwest Division. Goaltender Ben Gaudreau provided 29 saves.
Erie’s Carey Terrance drew a boarding major and game misconduct for a hit on Jacob LeBlanc at 20:00 of the second period, handing the Troops a man advantage to start the third. Andrew LeBlanc took a pass from Wyatt Kennedy and wove a route through the right circle into the goalmouth to beat the sprawling Gaudreau. Vilmanis also assisted on LeBlanc’s 11th goal of the season and his second since a trade from the Sarnia Sting.
The goal gave the Battalion a 4-1 lead, but Erie staged a late rally, getting power-play goals from Alfano on a snap shot from the top of the left circle at 12:44 and Edwards’s conversion of a back pass from Alfano at 18:03.
Van Steensel opened the scoring at 5:12 of the first period with his 20th goal, giving and getting a pass from Anthony Romani on a two-on-one rush. Romani, with 35 goals and 33 assists for 68 points in 41 games, tied Hunter Brzustewicz of the Kitchener Rangers atop the OHL scoring race.
Penalty killer Fimis, taking a pass from Matthew Schaefer at the Erie blue line, broke away from Dalyn Wakely and Ty Nelson to beat DiVincentiis at 9:17.
Vilmanis struck at 12:43, receiving the puck on the left side of the slot on a diagonal feed from Paul Christopoulos and putting a sweeping deke on Gaudreau before hoisting the rubber home. Nelson also assisted on Vilmanis’s 12th goal, his second since joining the Troops from Sarnia.
Therrien emerged from the left corner and beat Gaudreau to the short side over the shoulder on the power play at 18:19. Vilmanis had the lone assist.
Ihnat Pazii fought Erie’s Wesley Royston at 12:55, coming back from an early disadvantage with a flurry of blows and getting the takedown.
In the middle frame, Gaudreau wielded his blocker to deny Andrew LeBlanc on a seventh-minute breakaway, and seconds later Therrien was foiled on a pointblank chance in the goalmouth.
The Battalion visits the Mississauga Steelheads at 7 p.m. Friday. The game can be seen live in North Bay on YourTV Channels 12 and 700.
Photo and Article Credit- North Bay Battalion
BATTALION BULLETS: The teams completed their season series, after Erie won 4-3 at home Dec. 15. The Battalion secured its first victory in three games over former coach Stan Butler, who took over the Otters last Feb. 1 … With his 116th assist, Nelson tied Matvey Petrov for sixth place in franchise history … Romani, who had scored in the previous seven games, has an 18-game points streak in which he has 17 goals and 18 assists for 35 points … Van Steensel is on a nine-game points streak in which he has five goals and five assists for 10 points … Wakely saw the end of a nine-game points streak during which he had seven goals and as many assists for 14 points … The Battalion was 2-for-5 on the power play. Erie went 2-for-3 … Opening lines featured Wakely centring left winger Van Steensel and right winger Romani, Liam Arnsby pivoting left winger Justin Ertel and right winger Vilmanis and Ethan Procyszyn centring left winger Andrew LeBlanc and right winger Therrien. Brice Cooke centred left winger Pazii and right winger Lirim Amidovski … Defence pairs saw Nelson with Christopoulos, Tnias Mathurin with Jacob LeBlanc and Trevor McDowell with Kennedy … The Battalion scratched Brayden Turley, Nolan Laird, Bronson Ride and Stef Forgione … Alfano, a second-round pick by the Peterborough Petes in the 2020 OHL Priority Selection, turned 20 … Among the missing for Erie was Spencer Sova … Fimis has a five-game points streak in which he has two goals and nine assists for 11 points.
