Andrew LeBlanc took matters into his own hands in overtime and propelled the Battalion to get the extra point with a 3-2 win over the Bulldogs in Brantford. The overage forward scored the game winning goal at 1:55 in the extra frame when he drove down the left wing, sped by a defender and dangled in front of the Brantford net to get just enough space to put the puck under the pad and into the back of the net for an incredible finish to a very tight game.
It’s the second goal of the season for LeBlanc, and first since opening night against Peteborough. But the playmaking forward has been shuffled around on different lines, with different linemates as the Troops are not only dealing with a couple of injuries, but looking to LeBlanc to play a mentorship role to guys who are expected to be playing major roles on this team for the foreseeable future.
He was slotted in as the second line centre on Friday night in Brantford with first year, Finnish import Natan Teshome on his left, and third year right winger Jacob Therrien. That line finished with two points on the night, in a game where any points were clearly going to be hard to come by.
Both goaltenders were intent on making the opposition offences earn everything against them.
Mike McIvor (5-1-0-0) stopped 24 of 26 shots, including several key saves in the third period when the game was going back and forth, while second year netminder David Egorov (2-2-0-0) countered with 37 saves on 40 shots.
Special teams have been the Achilles heel for the Bulldogs (4-3-1-0) through their first seven games of the season as they ranked 19th in the league on the power play (6.9%) while the penalty kill sat at 76.5% (4/17), 15th in the league coming into the game but their almost overcame those deficiencies against North Bay. After allowing a power play goal in the second period, Brantford found themselves in penalty trouble late in the game. With the score tied 2-2, Lucas Moore was called for high sticking, resulting in a double minor at 17:31. The four minutes of power play time carried over into overtime, giving the Battalion a chance to win the game with a 4-on-3-man advantage.
While the Battalion couldn’t convert on the power play, the LeBlanc goal came just moments after the penalty expired while the Bulldogs were still trying to get themselves situated properly for 4-on-4 in overtime.
Twin brother Jacob LeBlanc had the secondary assist on the play, giving him two helpers on the evening. He picked up his first when Ethan Procyszyn opened the scoring at 12:33. Brantford got into penalty trouble when Dylan Tsherna was called for tripping at 11:50.
It was the third power play of the game for North Bay (6-4-0-0) who exposed the weakness of the Bulldogs on Procysyzn’s 8th goal of the season. Jacob LeBlanc passed the puck to Jacob Therrien at the top of the zone, and Therrien sent it toward the net. Procysyzn was set up at the top of the crease and he grabbed the shot from Therrien, put it through his own legs, and buried it under the glove side pads of Egorov for a 1-0 North Bay lead, whose power play was ranked 6th coming into the game.
The goal keeps Procyszyn on a point per game pace as the Anaheim Ducks prospect (2024, 3rd round, #68) came into the game sporting 7-3-10 stat line, while that was his league leading 5th power play goal.
The Battalion carried that 1-0 lead into the third, but Bulldogs tied the game in the early going, forcing a turnover inside the North Bay zone and crashing the crease with several players. McIvor looked to make a save to his blocker side but his momentum pulled him out of position and with several Bulldogs sitting in the crease, they potted in an easy goal at 1:41 with Tsherna (1) tying the game 1-1.
Shortly after, McIvor made a potential game saving stop on Astorville native Briir Long. Long (Brantford’s 10th round pick in 2023) was left alone in the slot and sent a one-timer in toward the North Bay net, but McIvor came up to the top of the crease and denied the first year forward, who’s looking for his first OHL career goal.
Jake O’Brien (4) gave the Bulldogs the lead at 12:31, getting a pass from behind the net from Noah Roberts to the near side circle and he fired a shot high, over the blocker side shoulder of McIvor to get the Bulldogs in front 2-1.
Stepan Chukharev got the Battalion back to even footing at 13:50 when he slotted home the puck after finding it off a pass from Reyth Smith on a scramble play in front of the net. It’s the first OHL career goal and point for Chukharev.
Smith had an impactful night. Outside of the assist he had a couple of good scoring opportunities during the game and also dropped the gloves for a tilt against Brantford defenceman Niko Krmpotic in the first period.
The two 17-year-olds, started jawing at each other in the Brantford zone at 12:36. One thing led to another and the gloves came off. Krmpotic landed a couple of good shots as Smith struggled to get his arm free, but once he did, he returned the favour with a few good connections of his own. Neither guy went down before the officials broke it up as the players got tied up along the boards.
Throughout the first ten minutes of the game, the teams traded chances on the power play. North Bay were shorthanded first when Andrew LeBlanc was called for holding at 5:26. Brantford couldn’t capitalize and then found themselves short-handed at 9:19 when Lucas Moore was called for roughing on a play where he hooked his arm around Therrien’s head after the whistle and threw the North Bay forward down to the ice. Just like the Bulldogs though, the Battalion couldn’t convert on the man-advantage and the teams headed to the locker rooms scoreless after 20 minutes.
This was the first time the Battalion hadn’t allowed a goal in the first period since October 5th, in an eventual 6-3 loss to the 67’s in Ottawa. They Battalion have also scored just two first-period goals in their last five games.
During the intermission, second year forward Shamar Moses spoke to the OHL tonight broadcast. “We haven’t been starting too hot lately, but this was a much better first period,” Moses said as the Troops outshot the Bulldogs 12-6. “We need to keep finishing our hits and creating turnovers and this will be a good game for us.”
Smith almost gave the Troops the lead less than four minutes into the second period. He got a pass from the corner and he quickly redirected it towards the net, but Egorov made a beautiful pad save, tracking the puck from post to post and robbing Smith of what should’ve been the opening goal. Immediately after the play, Smith brought the puck back into the zone and made a nice move between the hash marks to get around a defender, but before he could get a shot off, he got hooked and drew the penalty. Unfortunately, the Troops couldn’t take advantage, despite getting numerous opportunities within the goal scoring area.
Another highlight play for North Bay goaltender McIvor came after that North Bay power play when at 6:27 McIvor made an outstanding save to keep the game tied. The Bulldogs Luca Testa got a shot that bounced off McIvor and went right to the stick of O’Brien who was set up on the near side post. McIvor went down and stuck out the left side pad to smother a chance in tight for the home side.
This was a great momentum booster for the Battalion after coming off a tough 3-1 loss at home to Sarnia just 24 hours prior. Now they get a day off to recuperate before they suit up for their first battle against Sudbury, with the Wolves coming into town on Sunday afternoon.
