Troops move ahead of 67’s
Zach Wigle and Lirim Amidovski scored third-period goals 32 seconds apart to lift the North Bay Battalion to a 3-2 comeback victory Monday over the Ottawa 67’s, giving the Troops sole possession of the eighth and final playoff berth in the Ontario Hockey League’s Eastern Conference.
Jacob Therrien also scored for North Bay, which got 22 saves from goaltender Mike McIvor before a crowd of 3,847 for the Family Day matinee.
The Battalion improved its won-lost-extended record to 21-27-4 for 46 points, fifth in the Central Division and two points ahead of Ottawa, fourth in the East Division. The Troops hold three games in hand on the 67’s.
North Bay won a third consecutive game, including a 5-4 victory via shootout Saturday night over the host Barrie Colts, to match its longest winning streak of the season, dating to the first three games of the schedule.
Will Gerrior scored both Ottawa goals in the final frame to give the hosts a 2-1 lead. The 67’s, who dressed 17 skaters, one below the limit, received 25 saves from goaltender Collin MacKenzie
Ottawa, which lost 5-1 Sunday to the visiting Kitchener Rangers, is 18-29-8. The Battalion played the second game of a season-high six in a row on the road, while the 67’s are two games into a six-game home stand.
The Battalion led 1-0 through 40 minutes before Gerrior converted his own rebound at 2:31 of the third period and capitalized on the power play at 7:50, pumping the puck home from tight to the crease off a pass from Cooper Foster. It was Gerrior’s 26th goal of the season.
North Bay tied it on a double deflection at 12:18 after Wigle attempted a pass from the left-wing corner. The puck glanced up from Theo Avila’s stick before bouncing off MacKenzie’s back into the net. The unassisted goal was Wigle’s 10th and his fourth since a Jan. 5 trade from Barrie.
Amidovski then drove down the left wing around Chris Barlas to the crease, beating MacKenzie between the legs. Brayden Turley and Adrian Manzo assisted on Amidovski’s 14th goal.
Nic Whitehead put home a puck lying beside the sprawled McIvor at 5:32, but referee Kevin McArthur had lost sight of the disc and had blown his whistle, ending play.
Therrien scored his 10th goal on the power play at 17:24 of the first period after the swarming Troops led Luca Pinelli to take a roughing penalty. Shamar Moses, in the high slot, fed the puck to Andrew LeBlanc at the right side, and he fired it across to Therrien in the left circle for a one-timer.
The goal came on the Troops’ 14th shot of the frame, at which point the 67’s had only three. The final count in the period, in which the Battalion held a decided territorial edge, was 15-4.
Reyth Smith and Ottawa’s Kaleb Dietsch scrapped at 10:38. The linesmen appeared ready to thwart efforts to engage in fisticuffs, but the players would have none of it and escaped to throw a flurry of punches. Each received a fighting major.
MacKenzie stoned Parker Vaughan at the left lip of the crease off a setup by Kent Greer at 2:07 of the second period before each team failed to connect on a power-play opportunity in the stanza.
In the closing seconds, Pinelli forced McIvor to make a left-pad stop, with the goaltender then diving to get the inner side of his blocker to Foster’s effort on the rebound. An ensuing scrum saw Foster and Ihnat Pazii draw coincidental roughing minors at 19:56.
The Battalion opens a four-game western swing against the Saginaw Spirit at 7:05 p.m. Thursday. The game can be seen live in North Bay on YourTV Channels 12 and 700.
BATTALION BULLETS: Despite being in different divisions, the Battalion and 67’s face off six times, with each team now having a record of 2-2-0. Ottawa won 6-3 at home Oct. 5 before the host Battalion prevailed 3-2 on Oct. 24. The 67’s won 4-3 at TD Place on Dec. 15. The next meeting is Feb. 28 at Ottawa … Bronson Ride cleared the puck from the Battalion crease with McIvor down with 15 seconds to play … Therrien led North Bay with five shots on goal. Pinelli topped the 67’s with five … The Battalion went 1-for-2 on the power play. Ottawa was 1-for-3 … Opening lines featured Ethan Procyszyn centring left winger LeBlanc and right winger Therrien, Wigle centring left winger Moses and right winger Vaughan and Pazii pivoting left winger Amidovski and right winger Nick Wellenreiter. Nolan Laird centred left winger Smith and right winger Ryder Carey … Defence pairings had Ride with Jacob LeBlanc, Aaron Enright with Greer and Turley with Manzo … The Battalion scratched Briir Long, Zach Wilson and Stepan Chukharev … Greer returned after losing five games to an injury in a 4-3 win via shootout Feb. 2 over the visiting Niagara IceDogs … Wellenreiter marked his 19th birthday … Procyszyn saw the end of a five-game points streak in which he had three goals and four assists for seven points … Among the missing for Ottawa were Bradley Horner and Filip Ekberg … In his last nine games, Pinelli has six goals and as many assists for 12 points … Hillary Brennan was the other referee. Photo/article credit North Bay Battalion
