Troops Go Up 2

 Dalyn Wakely provided two goals and two assists to power the North Bay Battalion to a 7-3 victory Saturday night over the Kingston Frontenacs and a lead of two games to none in the teams’ Ontario Hockey League first-round playoff series.

Sandis Vilmanis contributed one goal and two assists, Owen Van Steensel had one goal and one assist and Ty Nelson, Ihnat Pazii and Brice Cooke also scored for second-seeded North Bay in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference quarterfinal before 3,590 at Memorial Gardens.

Starting goaltender Dom DiVincentiis gave up one goal on three shots before leaving with an injury at 13:05 of the first period. Reliever Mike McIvor allowed two goals on 19 shots in his OHL playoff debut.

The Troops were without Anthony Romani, the OHL’s leading regular-season scorer with 58 goals who suffered a lower-body injury in the first game, a 4-2 victory Thursday night in which he opened the scoring before leaving in the first period. They then lost Liam Arnsby to a first-period game misconduct.

Jacob Battaglia, Gage Heyes and Jacob Holmes scored for seventh-seeded Kingston. Starting goaltender Mason Vaccari allowed five goals on 11 shots before giving way to J.J. Salajko to start the second period. He stopped 10 of 12 shots over the final 40 minutes.

The series now shifts to Kingston for two games, starting with Game 3 at 7 p.m. Monday.

The Battalion raced out to a 5-1 lead in a bizarre first period.

Nelson struck on the power play at 2:25 when his blast from inside the blue line appeared to glance off a defender. Wakely and Justin Ertel earned assists on Nelson’s second goal of the postseason. The goal was defenceman Nelson’s 38th playoff point, tying him with Wojtek Wolski for third place in franchise history. Nelson has eight goals and 30 assists in 35 playoff games.

Pazii made it 2-0 at 4:54. Vilmanis squeezed down the right wing and dished the puck into the goalmouth, where Pazii slipped it between Vaccari’s pads. The goal marked the Ukrainian import’s first OHL playoff point.

The Battalion already was shorthanded when Arnsby received a major for a head check and the game misconduct at 10:32. Kingston capitalized on the two-man advantage when Battaglia beat DiVincentiis at the right post at 11:45.

Wakely scored shorthanded at 12:31, racing in alone on Vaccari and snapping the puck past the goaltender’s glove. Bronson Ride and Ertel drew assists.

At the other end, DiVincentiis was down in his crease after an apparent collision with Kingston’s Gabriel Frasca. DiVincentiis, who received attention from athletic therapist Andrew Sachkiw, stayed in the game only to leave the ice immediately after snaring a Paul Ludwinski drive 34 seconds later.

Penalty killer Vilmanis made it 4-1 at 14:01, charging off the left wing and lifting the puck over Vaccari’s right shoulder. Tnias Mathurin earned the sole assist on what proved to be the winner. It marked the first time the Troops netted two shorthanded goals in a playoff game since April 20, 2014, when Nick Paul and Barclay Goodrow scored against the visiting Oshawa Generals in Game 2 of the conference final.

Wakely drove to the net off the left wing and lifted a backhander past Vaccari at 19:40. Van Steensel and Paul Christopoulos assisted on Wakely’s third goal of the series.

Cooke scored on the power play at 3:04 of the second period, snapping the puck over Salajko’s glove from a sharp angle to the goaltender’s right. Jacob LeBlanc and Ethan Procyszyn assisted.

Heyes drilled the puck over McIvor’s glove from deep in the right circle at 12:28 before Van Steensel connected on the power play at 17:10, one-timing a cross-ice pass from Vilmanis behind Salajko from the right wing. Wakely also assisted on Van Steensel’s first goal.

Defenceman Holmes finished the scoring at 16:34 of the third period, batting the puck past McIvor from the slot.

The games at Kingston can be seen live in North Bay on YourTV Channels 12 and 700.

BATTALION BULLETS: DiVincentiis’s departure saw Charlie Larocque dress as a third Battalion goaltender … In 35 postseason games, Van Steensel has nine goals and 10 assists for 19 points, tied with Dylan Blujus and Marcus McIvor for 19th place in franchise history … In 35 playoff games, Wakely has nine goals and nine assists for 18 points, tied with Raffi Torres, Ryan Oulahen, Scott Tanski and Brett McKenzie for 22nd place all-time … Arnsby has 53 penalty minutes in playoffs, three more than Stuart Simmons and fifth on the franchise list … The Battalion went 3-for-7 on the power play. Kingston was 1-for-3 … Opening lines featured Wakely centring left winger Van Steensel and right winger Jacob Therrien, Arnsby pivoting left winger Ertel and right winger Vilmanis and Procyszyn centring left winger Pazii and right winger Cooke. Dylan Richter centred left winger Nolan Laird and right winger Lirim Amidovski … Apart from Romani, who’s listed as day-to-day, the Battalion scratched Brayden Turley, Trevor McDowell, Andrew LeBlanc and Stef Forgione … Rookie Richter was recalled from the junior B Strathroy Rockets of the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League to make his OHL playoff debut. A fifth-round pick in the 2022 OHL Priority Selection, he had two goals and one assist for three points in 24 games with the Troops this season … Kingston’s missing again were Vann Williamson, Adam Cavallin and Xander Velliaris … Blake Beer and Scott Ferguson were the referees.