Two third period goals made the difference for the Battalion as it was able to hold off the Niagara IceDogs for a 4-3 win on home ice on Sunday afternoon.
Tied 2-2 after 40 minutes, the Battalion was awarded a power play when the IceDogs had too many men on the ice. As the Battalion started to generate some chances on the man advantage, Matthew Struthers fired in a shot from the point that got through, but the net had been knocked loose by Niagara goaltender Tucker Tynan. That resulted in a delay of game penalty against the goaltender and on the ensuing 5-on-3 power play, the Battalion would score at 5:46, when Captain Brad Chenier (11) slid his own rebound through the five-hole, to put the Troops ahead 3-2.
About five minutes later Brandon Coe set up Luke Moncada (11) for a one-timer that he converted on, despite the net also getting knocked loose on this play. But because the puck was already crossing the goal line, the play was upheld, giving North Bay a 4-3 lead with just over 10 minutes left to play.
“It’s a great win for our group,” says Battalion Assistant Coach Adam Dennis.
“From the goalie out, we really put together a full team effort and it’s nice to get rewarded for it.”
The IceDogs, winners of four of their last five, and a team which had not lost in regulation in any of those games, found a last gasp of air within the final minutes of the game. With just under three minutes to play, Niagara pulled their goaltender and the extra attacker paid off when Jake Uberti (6) finished off a play that started with a shot from Akil Thomas that bounced around in front of the net, finally finding it’s way over the goal line to close the gap at 4-3.
But that’s as close as the IceDogs would get.
“You’re up by one, you’re trying to hold on to a lead when they are able to put their best players out on the ice,” says Dennis about the final moments of the game.
“For us to hold the fort like that really showed that our guys really wanted to win and that is really important in our development and learning to be winners.”
Joe Vrbetic made 26 saves in net for North Bay, earning his fifth win of the season in his sixth straight start. After the game, he spoke to Country-600 between the benches reporter Moe McMillan and said, “I was just trying to make the best save I can. Try to give our team the win every time and I’m glad it worked out today.”
Vrbetic added, “We’re just starting to believe in ourselves. We have had a tough season so far but we just keep believing in ourselves and every game we’ll just keep trying to do our best.”
The pregame talk was all about continuing to make Memorial Gardens a tough place to play. The coaches wanted the Troops to be aggressive and be physical.
Rookie Defenceman Paul Christopoulos may have taken those words to heart and made an aggressive rush at a Niagara player going into the Battalion zone. The resulting collision, according to the officials, was to charge Christopoulos with a slew foot, and a match penalty as well. All of this occurred just 54 seconds into the game.
But it was the Battalion that got on the board first when Matthew Struthers (11) stole the puck at the blue line and was off to the races. His initial shot was stopped but it trickled to the left side post and Struthers got an extra stab at it and it flipped over the pads of Tucker Tynan and crossed the goal line at 1:35 into the game.
North Bay killed off the five minute major from the slew-foot call, and Dennis says that was big, to seeing Vrbetic make some huge saves in the early going
“He does a lot for us, I think even to start the game, they could have come out and got a lead early, but he made a flurry of saves to begin the game and when you have a young group you need that in your goalie, a guy that can settle things down,” says Dennis.
“It’s nice to turn back and know there’s a guy back there that is holding the fort for you and making a lot of tough saves look easy. I think he’s getting stronger every game and he’s going to be an exciting one to watch.
Moments after the power play expired, the Ice Dogs buried a rebound off an Akil Thomas shot, with Phillip Tomasino (14) getting the last touch at 6:11 of the first.
Niagara would score again just under four minutes later when Jackson Doherty took the puck coast to coast and after taking a shot coming into the zone, he found his own rebound and set up Andrew Bruder (5) alone at the side of the net and beat Vrbetic at 10:09 to give Niagara a 2-1 lead that they would carry with them through the end of the first.
In the second, North Bay held the Ice Dogs off the board with Vrbetic stopping all nine shots that came his way, and the Troops were able to tie the game at 3:28.
Off an offensive zone face-off won by North Bay, Nick Grima picked up the puck right off the circle and ripped it past Tynan for his first goal of the season and first as a member of the Battalion. The last time Grima recorded a goal was against the Battalion on February 2, 2019, in Sarnia in a 6-2 win for the Sting.
The Battalion (5-19-0-0) have now won back to back games on home ice against a central division rival, with their previous victory coming a week prior in a 5-4 win over Barrie. They will hit the road for a three-game weekend that takes them through Peterborough, Kingston, and Ottawa.
