Spirit spurt sinks Battalion
Damian Zhilkin and Michael Misa each provided one goal and one assist in a five-goal first-period blitz that sent the Saginaw Spirit to a 5-1 victory over the North Bay Battalion in an Ontario Hockey League game Thursday night.
Nic Sima, James Guo and Carson Harmer scored a goal apiece and goaltender Andrew Oke made 21 saves for the Spirit before 3,947 at the Dow Event Center. Zayne Parekh contributed three assists as the hosts recorded five goals in a span of 8:01.
Saginaw moved its won-lost-extended record to 32-21-2 for 66 points, second in the West Division and fourth in the Western Conference. The Spirit has won its last six games since a 4-2 loss Feb. 7 to the host Brantford Bulldogs.
In 52 games, Misa leads the OHL scoring race with 53 goals and 57 assists for 110 points, one short of the club record of 111 set in 2019-20 by Cole Perfetti.
Jacob Therrien scored for the Battalion, which opened a four-game road trip. Starting goaltender Jack Lisson gave up four goals on 11 shots before being relieved by Mike McIvor, who allowed one goal on 23 shots.
North Bay is 21-28-4 for 46 points, fifth in the Central Division and eighth in the Eastern Conference. The Troops, who had won their previous three games to equal a season high, are two points ahead of the East Division’s Ottawa 67’s with two games in hand.
“We won the second period and tied the third,” said coach Ryan Oulahen, finding some positives. “We got back to playing our game in some way.”
Zhilkin, a first-round pick in the 2024 OHL Priority Selection, sparked the first-period barrage with his 10th goal of the season at 6:16 when he beat Lisson low to the glove side from the mid slot on an assist by Parekh.
Misa struck on the power play at 8:40, just 17 seconds after Jacob LeBlanc went off for hooking. Misa took a cross-ice pass from Igor Chernyshov and one-timed the puck from the right circle. Parekh also assisted on what proved to be the winner.
Sima pumped the disc home from the lip of the crease 23 seconds later, and defenceman Guo, at the right faceoff dot, wristed his fifth goal on assists by Parekh and Misa at 11:36, ending Lisson’s time in net.
The puck squirted loose from a right-wing collision to rookie Harmer alone in the goalmouth for his 20th goal at 14:17.
Therrien replied during a two-man advantage at 5:54 of the middle period. Shamar Moses put the puck wide left, and Therrien went behind the net to feed it in front, capitalizing when it deflected into the net off Oke’s right skate. Ethan Procyszyn also assisted on the 11th goal by Therrien, who has one in each of the last three games.
The two-man advantage, scheduled to last 1:45 but ending after 25 seconds, followed a holding call against P.J. Forgione and a slashing minor to Parekh after he whacked Therrien. Kristian Epperson then received a match penalty for high-sticking Therrien at 19:42.
The Battalion managed three shots during what was left of that penalty to start the third period before the final 1:33 was offset by a slashing call against Andrew LeBlanc, his first of two four minutes apart.
The Battalion visits the Flint Firebirds at 7 p.m. Friday. The game can be seen live in North Bay on YourTV Channels 12 and 700.
BATTALION BULLETS: It was the teams’ first meeting. Saginaw visits North Bay on March 2 to complete the season series … Sima, with 15 goals and 14 assists for 29 points in 48 games, is the only former Battalion member still with Saginaw. Last season, the Spirit included Alex Christopoulos and Josh Bloom, who scored the Memorial Cup-winning goal on home ice against the London Knights. He played 49 games with the Troops in 2022-23, scoring 25 goals and adding 30 assists for 55 points … Therrien, LeBlanc and Parker Vaughan paced the Battalion with three shots on goal apiece. Harmer and Chernyshov each had five for Saginaw … The Battalion went 1-for-4 on the power play. Saginaw was 1-for-3. The Spirit power play is ranked second in the OHL, while its penalty killing is sixth … Opening lines had Procyszyn centring left winger LeBlanc and right winger Therrien, Zach Wigle pivoting left winger Moses and right winger Vaughan and Ihnat Pazii centring left winger Lirim Amidovski and right winger Nick Wellenreiter. Nolan Laird centred left winger Briir Long and right winger Ryder Carey … Defence pairings saw Bronson Ride with Jacob LeBlanc, Aaron Enright with Kent Greer and Zach Wilson with Adrian Manzo … The Battalion scratched Brayden Turley, Reyth Smith and Stepan Chukharev … Misa has a 21-game points streak, the OHL’s longest current such run, in which he has 23 goals and 26 assists for 49 points … Ryan Harrison and Joe Monette were the referees.
