Troops rally to beat Wolves

Jacob Therrien scored at 11:52 of the third period, breaking a tie and lifting the North Bay Battalion to a 3-2 comeback victory Sunday over the Sudbury Wolves.

Zach Wigle and Nolan Laird also scored for North Bay, which got 41 saves from goaltender Jack Lisson in a stellar showing in his first home-ice start before a crowd of 3,475 at Memorial Gardens.

The Battalion, which ended a three-game skid, moved its won-lost-extended record to 17-23-3 for 37 points, fifth in the Ontario Hockey League’s Central Division.

Quentin Musty and Nathan Villeneuve scored for the Wolves, while goaltender Nate Krawchuk faced 29 shots.

Sudbury, which has lost five straight games since a 10-6 decision Jan. 12 over the visiting Kingston Frontenacs, is 22-17-5 for 49 points, third in the division.

“Both teams haven’t had a lot of victories in the most recent games, so somebody was going to break that and somebody wasn’t, and it’s nice to just be on that other side,” said Battalion coach Ryan Oulahen.

“Obviously, the first period, (we were) a little slow getting going and getting our legs going. We addressed some things after that first intermission, and then a really good, really good second period that got us right back in the hockey game, and I thought we just did what we needed to do in the third to get the victory.”

Therrien took a pass from Shamar Moses and darted down the right wing, broke past Alex Pharand and drove to the net to beat Krawchuk over the glove. The goal, also assisted by Aaron Enright, was Therrien’s seventh of the season and came in his second game back after missing eight with an upper-body injury.

The Battalion, which trailed 2-0 after 20 minutes, got on the board when Wigle connected at 1:53 of the middle period, slipping across the goalmouth to knock home the puck after Andrew LeBlanc put it out to the left side from behind the net. It was Wigle’s eighth goal and his second in seven games since a trade from the Barrie Colts.

Laird tied it at 3:19 off a three-man rush that saw Ihnat Pazii feed Nick Wellenreiter, who passed the puck across the top of the zone to Laird, who drilled his seventh goal from the left circle.

The Battalion, outshot 14-5 in the first frame, held a 20-15 edge in the second, besieging Krawchuk for extended periods. Lisson contributed breakaway stops against Musty at the 14-minute mark and, seconds later, Villeneuve.

Musty struck on the power play at 4:32 of the first period after the Troops received a bench minor for too many men on the ice. Musty fired home his 13th goal in 17 games from the right circle on assists by Henry Mews and Ondrej Molnar.

Villeneuve scored 1:24 later from a near-impossible angle on the right wing. Molnar and Luca Blonda assisted on Villeneuve’s 20th goal.

Lisson came up big against Lucas Di Giantommaso at the crease in the 14th minute.

The Battalion plays host to the Brantford Bulldogs at 7 p.m. Thursday on Capitol Centre Night.

BATTALION BULLETS: On Northlander Day, presented by Ontario Northland, fans could visit the company’s booth to receive a complimentary Battalion-ONR Foam Finger … It was the sixth of eight season meetings, with North Bay having a record of 2-3-1. The Battalion’s other win was a 6-5 home-ice overtime decision Nov. 17. The next encounter is Friday night at the Sudbury Community Arena … Tayjon Street was assessed a tripping call for what looked more like kneeing on Therrien at 18:29 of the first period. Therrien drew a misconduct for remarks to referee Brendan Kane … Lirim Amidovski, who played his 101st game, led the Troops with five shots on goal. Kocha Delic paced the Wolves with eight … The Battalion went 0-for-2 on the power play. Sudbury was 1-for-1 … Former Battalion defenceman Paul Christopoulos attended the game … Opening lines featured Ethan Procyszyn centring left winger Moses and right winger Amidovski, Wigle skating between left winger LeBlanc and right winger Parker Vaughan and Pazii centring left winger Wellenreiter and right winger Therrien. Laird centred left winger Stepan Chukharev and right winger Ryder Carey … Defence pairs were Bronson Ride with Jacob LeBlanc, Enright with Kent Greer and Zach Wilson with Brayden Turley … The Battalion scratched Adrian Manzo, Briir Long and Reyth Smith … Sudbury was without Gavin Ewles, Ethan Dean, Braydon Bruce and Blake Clayton … Tyson Stewart was the other referee. Photo/article credit - North Bay Battlion