A better start has led to a better result for the North Bay Battalion in a 5-3 win over the Mississauga Steelheads on Friday evening with an unlikely hero coming through for North Bay.
With the game tied 3-3 in the third period, Wyatt Kennedy found a loose puck near the blue line and with lots of traffic in front he sent the shot in, getting it passed the Steelheads netminder Ryerson Leenders to give the Troops a 4-3 lead which they would not relinquish. It’s the first goal of the season for the third-year defenseman out of Vars, Ontario and he finished the night with a goal and a +2 rating. He’s had a +1 rating or better in four of his last five games.
The Troops were coming off a 4-3 loss to Kingston at home on Thursday, largely the result of a team that didn’t have the greatest first or second period against the Frontenacs, and by the time they really corrected things in the third the clock was running out and they weren’t able to find an equalizer.
On Friday at the Paramount Fine Foods Centre against their former Peel Region rivals, the Troops took it upon themselves to make they weren’t going to need a third period comeback, but they were in need of a third period resurgence after the Steelheads got back into to the game after trailing by three in the first period.
The Troops got two goals within the first five minutes of the game. Dalyn Wakely (10) took advantage of a scramble play in front of the net while the Battalion were on the man advantage just 1:06 into the first period. Wakely’s power play linemates Anthony Romani and Justin Ertel completed a passing play that left the puck in the crease area, and it looked to be lost under some bodies until Wakely snuck in on the far side, found the puck and sent it over the goal line.
At 4:13 Romani received a pass from Owen Van Steensel in the slot and he ripped it passed Leenders to put the Troops up by a pair of goals. The former third round draft pick by the Battalion has now tied his career high of 23 goals, this one coming in just his 29th game of the season. Romani had 23 last year, playing in 66 contest in which he piled up 43 total points. He’s sitting at 47 after Fridays win in which he put accumulated a goal and two assists for his third game of three points or more in his last six outings. It also extends his point streak to six games with five goals and 14 points. Sinc being held off the scoresheet in back to back games November 9th and 11th, Romani has five multi-point games including a hat-trick on November 16th, scoring 12 goals and 22 points over that span. His next goal will set a new career high while he has already surpassed his career highs in assists and points in a season.
Wakely (11) made it 3-0 North Bay at 8:51 of the first period, where they outshot the Steelheads 14-5. Wakely received a pass near the glove side post and he walked out in front and lifted the puck on his backhand, over the goaltenders blocker side for his second goal of the night.
But the Steelheads were able to get on the scoreboard when Luke Misa (12) scored a power play goal at 10:13.
That goal seemingly fueled the Steelheads in the second period when they came out with a lot of pressure early on and at 2:37 were able to beat North Bay Goaltender Charlie Robertson to cut the lead down to 3-2 off the stick of Mason Zebeski (10).
Another goal early in the third period evened things up at 3-3 when Adam Zidlicky (4) scored at 4:04.
But Robertson (5-2-3-1) shut things down from there and the defense held up their end of the bargain en route to the Troops improving to 14-10-4-1 and snapping their two-game slide, while gaining an important two points on the Steelheads to share a tie for first place in the Central Division. The win also puts the Battalion at an impressive 9-4-3-1 on the road this year, tied for the most wins by a road team in the Eastern Conference with Peterborough.
Wakely would round out the scoring when he deposited an empty net goal to secure the hat-trick at 18:57. His 13th goal of the season gives him his first career hat-trick as he continues to keep pace with his linemates Van Steensel and Romani who both have a pair of three goal games already this season. Wakely has already set a new career high with 27 assists this season and his three goals give him 40 points on the year, just nine back of his career high of 49 which he set last season during a 30-goal campaign.
Outside of the Kennedy game winner, the top line were contributing on every goal in this game as Van Steensel finished the night with three assists and the trio combined for four goals and nine points.
The Battalion outshot Mississauga 31-30 overall. Both teams were 1/5 on their power play opportunities, and the game was played in front of 1881 fans.
The Battalion are off now until Wednesday, when they host the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds at Memorial Gardens for a 7:00 p.m. puck drop.
The Frontline Broadcast will have your post-game breakdown of that game on the North Bay Mitsubishi After Action Report, which you can listen to here: https://www.spreaker.com/show/the-frontline_1