A 34 save effort by Jack Lisson helped propel the North Bay Battalion to a much needed 4-2 victory over the Central Division rivals, Brampton Steelheads.
“I liked the way we looked tonight,” assessed head coach Ryan Oulahen. “I said yesterday that I was hoping we were going to look like a different team after three good days of practice and we certainly did a lot of things we wanted to accomplish.
“Just got back to basics and playing fast hockey. Our transition game was really good, our neutral zone defending was way better than it has been and against their high octane forwards, we had to do that. I think ultimately that led to success, more o-zone time and some good performances here today.”
Just under seven minutes into the opening frame, Brampton appeared to have the ice breaker. Adam Zidlicky snapped the puck past Lisson. However, as the puck was fired, a Steelheads player appeared to be knocked into Lisson, creating the potential for goaltender interference. After a review, the goal was deemed good and Zidlicky skated away with his 16th of the season.
Later in the first, the Troops struck back. With Stevie Leskovar in the box serving a kneeing penalty, Parker Vaughan (17) showed why he was a high pick by the Barrie Colts beating Steelheads, and team Canada World Junior goalie Jack Ivankovic with an absolute snipe from the point to tie the game.
“We love him,” Oulahen said on Vaughan. “The shot is one thing and kind of a god-given talent to shoot the puck like he does. Just watching the Four Nations tournament a bit and there’s a guy who gets talked about a lot out there is Mark Stone, kind of similar in how they strip pucks, he’s hard on it and his hockey sense is really good.
“Excited to work with him because he’s such a young player and a good talent.”
Striking again quickly, 18 seconds in fact, was the Battalion. This time it was Lirim Amidovski and Ihnat Pazii breaking in a two-on-one. Looking off Pazii, Amidovski (13) beat Ivankovic’s glove to give North Bay the lead.
The score was 2-1 for the Troops after the first.
The Battalion kept rolling in the second, this time it was Andrew LeBlanc getting in on the fun. The play started with Jacob Therrien picking the puck up at the Steelheads blue line. Skating in, Therrien saw LeBlanc (10) streaking in, and passed the puck to the overager who then batted the puck past Ivankovic.
After 40 minutes player, North Bay held a 3-1 edge.
Late in the third, Angus MacDonell (19) pulled Brampton to within one, but a Bronson Ride (3) empty net goal sealed the 4-2 win for North Bay.
After the game, Oulahen said he’s impressed with Lisson’s play.
“I think every time he plays, he seems a bit more comfortable. He’s in his rhythm, his routine. Just the way with our schedule, he deserves a home start and he played really well in his last home start.
“We have confidence in both guys and it’s a luxury to have that, especially with the amount of hockey we are going to play over the next few weeks.”
North Bay is back in action Sunday for a Highway 11 rivalry against the Barrie Colts. Puck drop from the Sadlon Arena is 7:30p.m. For Vaughan and Zach Wigle, it will be their first time facing off against the Colts since an early January trade sent them to North Bay.
“I would think they will want to have a good effort. A lot of games you have an adrenaline factor, but certain games you have a little more. We’ll have to channel that.
“It’s nice to have a recovery day and practice time tomorrow before we head there on Saturday.”
With a victory tonight and the Ottawa 67’s idle after their game with Peterborough was postponed, the Troops are tied with Ottawa for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.