The North Bay Battalion find themselves in the driver’s seat of their playoff series against the Ottawa 67’s after a 3-2 overtime victory in the nation’s capital Monday evening.
The Troops now lead the best of seven series 3 games to 0.
“Well, it was an interesting game tonight and a bit different than the first two in the fact that our best period was our first,” stated head coach Ryan Oulahen
“We came out and had a really controlled first period and were really happy with our start. Then we kind of got away from things in the second, before ultimately having a good third period and we all know what happened in the last three or four minutes of the game.
“But in saying that, we were able to regroup in intermission going in to overtime and I’m really proud of the group to be able to do that, settle the nerves, settle everyone down and come out on top in overtime.”
After a wild 7-6 victory for the Troops in game two on Saturday in North Bay, game three seemed to start with that same flow as Kyle McDonald, an Ottawa product, put the Battalion up 1-0 23 seconds in to the game. Yet, with that fast start, that was all both teams would score until the third period.
Just over four minutes in to the third, the Troops other Ottawa product, Kyle Jackson, gave North Bay a 2-0 lead after a pass out from the corner from Brandon Coe. However, Ottawa would not go down easy, as with just over four minutes left in the game, Jack Beck netted his third in as many games past Joe Vrbetic for the 67’s to get them on the board. Then, with a minute and a half left, Cameron Tolnai potted his first of the series to tie the game at 2-2 with overtime being the result.
After a few minutes of back-and-forth play, the Troops looked to have won the game as McDonald lobbed the puck on net, which hit a 67’s player and made it past netminder Max Donoso. However, the play was called back on an offside from McDonald. Yet, after the game resumed, it took North Bay but a few moments to score again as Coe continued his clutch scoring, handing the Battalion a 3-2 victory.
“I guess for us it has been a theme in this series in terms of high intense moments,” explained Oulahen. “We thought that was a good goal, and obviously it got turned back and turned aside and again, another moment for our group to learn from. We were off the ice, and they came back and they were able to put that behind us and go forward and to do it so quickly shows how this group surprises us each and every day.”
After a day in Ottawa, North Bay will look to go for the sweep on Wednesday in game four against the 67’s. Should a game five be necessary, it would be played in North Bay on Thursday.
“They’re not going to quit,” stressed Oulahen. “The 67’s have been super impressive and we know we are going to see their best game on Wednesday. Our mindset is we have to try and put 60 minutes of our best hockey together in this series, try to continue to get better.”
“We get some practice ice here tomorrow in Ottawa and kind of be able to do the routine that we are able to do at home and be ready for Wednesday night.”