ST. CATHARINES, ON - Ryan Kujawinski scored off a Mike Amadio rebound to give the North Bay Battalion a come-from-behind 4-3 overtime win over the Niagara IceDogs on Friday night.
The Battalion battled back from three one-goal deficits, including an equalizer in the final minute.
"It was definitely huge, losing in the shootout yesterday to Barrie was kind of tough, we wanted to come in here and get the big 2 points and we did that in overtime," said Battalion defenceman Kyle Wood in a TVCogeco post-game interview.
Wood finished the night with 1 goal and 1 assist. Mike Amadio finished the game with 1 goal and 2 helpers in the win.
Jake Smith turned away 25 shots including a number of key saves throughout the contest.
The opening frame was much more wide open compared to the tight checking Barrie-North Bay tilt Thursday night.
Brendan Perlini got the IceDogs on the board as linemate Josh Ho-Sang intercepted a pass from behind the net by Jake Smith and fed the puck in front to Perlini who ripped it home at 7:11.
Kyle Wood evened things on the power play as the big defender made no mistake on a nice one-timer that beat Brent Moran.
For Wood it was his 11th goal of the season and 8th on the power play at 11:16.
Around the 15 minute mark, the IceDogs nearly pulled ahead as Carter Verhaeghe tried to wait out Smith moving to his left but the athletic Battalion netminder stayed with the Leafs prospect and kept the puck out.
Matthew Santos had a chance put the Troops ahead after one period of play as he created a turnover at the IceDogs blueline in the final minute of the first period but Brent Moran made the save on the partial breakaway.
Smth again made an incredible one-timer stop as Ho-Sang fed Verhaeghe and Smith made the crafty glove save near the 5 minute mark of the second period.
Billy Jenkins gave the IceDogs the lead as he tipped a Christopher Paquette shot past Smith to make it 2-1 at 11:55 of the second period.
Alex Henriksson did a good job to outmuscle IceDogs defender Vince Dunn. Henriksson's shot was stopped and the juicy rebound came right out to Hampus Olsson who netted his first career OHL goal to even things up 2-2 early in the third period.
On a Battalion power play shortly after the Battalion equalizer, Ryan Kujawinski got in alone on Moran and his forehand deke was thwarted by Moran.
On the late 3rd period power play, Jordan Maletta fed to Graham Knott near the slot as he netted his 15th of the season upstairs past Smith to make it 3-2 IceDogs with just over 5 minutes left in regulation.
However, the Battalion, with the net empty, got the equalizer as Kyle Wood's point shot tipped across by Ray Huether to Amadio who ripped it home on his off-wing to even the game at 3-3, it was his 19th of the campaign with only 42 seconds left in regulation.
The Battalion secured the win when Amadio created a turnover in the slot, his shot was stopped by Moran's pad and Kujawinski fired it into the open cage for the game winner.
The win was the 20th of the season for the Battalion as they improve to 21-
10-5-3 record and now sit 2
points back of Barrie for top spot in the Central Division with 1 game in hand.
The Troops continue to head south as they visit Connor McDavid and the Erie Otters Saturday night.
File Photo of Kyle Wood
