Sudbury defeats Battalion

Nathan Villeneuve scored three goals, including an empty-netter, and added one assist to pace the Sudbury Wolves to a 6-3 victory over the North Bay Battalion on Friday night, after which the Ontario Hockey League embarked on a seven-day Christmas break.

Kieron Walton and Kocha Delic each had one goal and one assist, with Delic’s also into an empty net, and Blake Clayton scored the winner for Sudbury, which got 32 saves from goaltender Nate Krawchuk in moving its won-lost-extended record to 17-10-4 for 38 points, third in the Central Division.

Shamar Moses had one goal and two assists for North Bay, while Jacob Therrien and Jacob LeBlanc provided one goal and one assist apiece. Goaltender Mike McIvor made 29 saves for the Battalion, which dressed 11 forwards and seven defencemen before a crowd of 3,548.

North Bay, which suffered a third consecutive loss, is 13-15-3 for 29 points, fifth in the division.

The teams fought to a 3-3 tie through 40 minutes before Clayton converted a pass out front at 6:36 of the third period after Rowan Henderson and Hudson Chitaroni worked for the puck along the end boards. It was rookie Clayton’s fifth goal of the season.

Delic put his ninth goal into the empty net at 18:18 after the Wolves won a puck battle in the offensive zone, and Villeneuve completed the scoring on a long shot into the vacant cage at 19:30 for his 13th goal.

The teams traded first-period power-play goals, with Moses opening the scoring during a two-man advantage at 4:30. Moses, assisted by Therrien and Owen Van Steensel, snapped home his seventh goal from the high slot.

Villeneuve was credited with a net-front tip of a Walton drive from the right circle at 15:04. Delic also assisted.

Moses hit the right post in the first minute before Tayjon Street went off for hooking at 3:29 and Clayton for crosschecking at 4:03 to give the Troops a skating advantage of five on three for a scheduled 1:26.

Therrien capitalized on the power play at 1:13 of the second period when he wired the puck from the left faceoff dot for his sixth goal. Moses and LeBlanc assisted.

Walton tied it 2-2 on a spectacular solo rush up ice, avoiding Brayden Turley’s attempted poke check, just as he emerged from the penalty box, and driving past defenders to tuck the puck behind McIvor on a backhand at 8:10. The unassisted effort was Walton’s team-leading 19th goal.

Defenceman LeBlanc restored the Battalion’s lead 57 seconds later, netting his fifth goal from the high slot on assists by Moses and Nick Wellenreiter.

Villeneuve scored at 14:30 when, on a three-on-one rush against Kent Greer, he took a return pass from Ondrej Molnar to convert at the right post. Luca Blonda had the other assist.

The Battalion’s next game is a visit to the Barrie Colts at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 28. It can be seen live in North Bay on YourTV Channels 12 and 700.BATTALION BULLETS: It was the fourth of eight meetings, with the Battalion 1-2-1. The Wolves won 4-3 in overtime Oct. 20 at North Bay and 3-1 at home Oct. 25 before the host Troops prevailed 6-5 in overtime Nov. 17. The next meeting is Jan. 3 at Sudbury … Andrew LeBlanc played his 200th game, his 51st with the Battalion. He played 57 with each of the Kitchener Rangers and Niagara IceDogs and 35 with the Sarnia Sting before a trade last Jan. 6 … North Bay went 2-for-4 on the power play. Sudbury was 1-for-3 … Opening lines saw Ethan Procyszyn centring left winger Van Steensel and right winger Therrien, LeBlanc pivoting left winger Moses and right winger Wellenreiter and Ryder Carey centring left winger Reyth Smith and right winger Lirim Amidovski. Centre Briir Long and left winger Stepan Chukharev had various linemates … The Battalion was without Declan Gallivan, Dylan Richter, Ihnat Pazii, Anthony Romani, Nolan Laird and Natan Teshome … Walton has a 13-game points streak in which he has scored 11 goals and earned 21 assists for 32 points …  Alex Pharand, who assisted on the last goal, is on an 11-game points streak during which he has nine goals and eight assists for 17 points … Among the missing for Sudbury were Donovan McCoy and Quentin Musty. After sitting out while seeking a trade, Musty played 11 games with eight goals and 12 assists for 20 points before being injured … Kevin McArthur and Aaron Neely were the referees.