After almost single-handedly leading the charge for his team the last two games, North Bay Battalion captain Mike Amadio finally got some help from his teammates on Thursday night, although he did get the game winning tally in this one.
With a difficult road schedule looming on the horizon, the North Bay Battalion seized what little home ice remains by dominating the Sudbury Wolves from start to finish in a 9-1 win at Memorial Gardens.
It was clobber-by-committee against their Northern Ontario rival as six different goal scorers got involved in the offensive hunt. Early goals in every period also helped keep the ball rolling for the Battalion, who exploded for their highest single-game scoring output this season.
While Amadio continued to lead the way, he was matched statistically by linemate Mathew Santos and Zach Poirier who put up two goals and an assist each. Defenceman Kyle Wood, meanwhile, added three assists in a plus-five performance on the blueline.
While Battalion backstopper Jake Smith wasn’t seriously tested for the first half of the game, he was sharp on the 25 shots he did stop as the Wolves tried to bite back.
“Last time [the Wolves] came in here we jumped to a good lead, but we let them get back into the game,” Battalion head coach Stan Butler said post-game. “The one thing we said to our players tonight was that we didn’t want that to happen - we wanted to push harder in the second and I think we did that.”
The Wolves dug themselves a deep hole early thanks to undisciplined play.
With all four North Bay lines getting in on the action early, the IQ line, as they’ve been deemed by Butler, of Kyle Potts, Justin Brazeau and Max Kislinger were able to draw an important offensive-zone penalty in the first three minutes.
Immediately after the following power play, Sudbury starter Zack Bowan looked to have comfortable control of a Zach Poirier perimeter shot, but Poirier’s puck pursuit and net-crashing effort poked the puck through Bowman’s legs and trickled in for the first goal of the game.
“They just play the way we want them to play,” Butler said of his young line earning the team the opportunity. “Eighty per cent of the video that we show people of how to play the right way, it’s always the IQ line that we use.”
After Bowman’s shaky first goal against, the Battalion were firing at will from all over the ice and made the majority of the period look like they had a man-advantage.
Inevitably, Amadio kept his sharp-shooting on display on the team’s very next power play, walking in from the half-boards and sniping a quick snap shot in the top right corner for the early two-goal lead.
He didn’t waste any time adding a second tally for his third consecutive multi-goal game, scoring in equally as flashy fashion by following up an odd-man rush and snapping another stunning shot inside the far side post from the hash marks.
“You watch him as a 16-year-old, he didn’t score a lot of goals and even as a 17-year-old, he could shoot the puck but not very hard,” said Butler. “Now he puts it where he wants it, but puts it there with a lot more speed.
“Those two goals he scored today were highlight goals: the first one goes bar-in and the second one not much less, so that’s a credit to him,” he added. “He’s having a great year and he’s one of the reasons why we’re putting together a pretty good second half of the season.”
Amadio now has nine goals through his last three games and 18 points on his current nine-game point-scoring streak.
“I think I just have the hot stick - everything I put on net is, fortunately for me, going in,” the captain said humbly.
The Wolves left the ice very noticeably frustrated in the first intermission, but the slammed doors continued from the Sudbury side as the slide continued in the second period.
It took Mathew Santos less than two minutes to notch his 20th of the season just minutes before Poirier potted his second of the game for just his second multi-goal game of the season.
The Wolves finally found some offensive zone presence for the first time all game, but Santos’ second of the game on a beautiful decoy rush with Amadio halfway through the period crushed what little hope they had, chasing Bowman out of the net.
“We know that we’ve got a pretty good team here and that we can make some noise in the playoffs, so obviously the guys that were on teams in years past need to be the leaders and guide these young guys into another long playoff run,” Amadio said of the veterans paving the way.
Secondary scorers Brett Hargrave, David Sherman and Steve Harland would go on to add insurance markers on their new-look lines.
The Wolves capitalized with their one lone goal midway through the third period, but it did nothing to deflate the dominance of the guys in green.
The North Bay power play ultimately went one-for-four on the evening, even though their early odd-man advantages helped the Troops build their confidence overall.
Butler was also a surprise appearance behind the North Bay bench after he was expected to serve the second game of what was thought to be a minimum two-game suspension.
A North Bay win and a Niagara loss on Thursday night catapults the Troops to four points clear of sole possession of third place in the Eastern Conference.
But a difficult weekend awaits them, as they load the bus immediately to drive to Mississauga to tangle with the Steelheads on Friday night before returning home for a Sunday matinee against the Peterborough Petes.
“I think any weekend where you have three games […], we always tell the boys that the first game is very, very critical that you find a way to win it,” Butler concluded. “Like I told the kids today: we’ve got to play one period at a time, one shift at a time and one game at a time.”
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