Coming off an impressive victory Thursday in Windsor, the North Bay Battalion were looking to build momentum Friday night in London with a date with the Knights. However, a Sam Dickinson hat trick helped propel London to a 6-2 victory over the Troops.
Special teams played a factor in all first period London goals as Dickinson (9) started the party shorthanded just over five minutes in. The San Jose Sharks prospect received a pass and broke in on Troops netminder Charlie Laroque, lifting the puck over the goalie. Assisting on the goal was Toronto Maple Leafs prospect Easton Cowan, who extended his OHL points streak to an impressive 48 games dating back to last season.
Halfway through the period, Henry Brzustewicz (1) one timed a shot from the blue line on a Knights powerplay. Keeping up the momentum was Dickinson (10) on another London powerplay, this time with a snipe from the top of the faceoff dot in the Troops zone.
After the opening frame, it was 3-0 London. The Knights kept up the pace early in the second as Brzustewicz (2) added his second of the game, this time shorthanded and the second shorthanded goal of the game for London. This time, Cowan found Brzustewicz on the two-on-one and the defender made no mistake. Minutes later, William Nicholl (5) one timed a slick pass from Jared Woolley to make it 5-0 for London.
However, the Troops would not go gentle into that good night as halfway through the frame North Bay finally broke through. Starting with a break out pass by Kent Greer to Dylan Richter, Richter carried the puck into London zone, dropping it for Nolan Laird (2), who ripped a shot over Alexsei Medvedev's glove hand.
Minutes after, Reyth Smith (2) and Jacob LeBlanc started a two-on-one, LeBlanc found the trailer, Greer, who put the puck on net, and Smith, the former Powassan Voodoo standout, was Johnny on the spot, putting the puck into a wide open cage on the rebound.
After 40 minutes of play, it was 5-2 for London.
Getting back to their scoring ways in the third, Dickinson (11) completed the hat trick, the second on the season for the defenceman already. While Laroque was down in his crease, Dickinson found the puck along the boards and fired it towards the net and past the Troops netminder before he had a chance to recover.
In the loss, Larocque made 27 saves, while Medvedev registered 31. On the special teams side of things, North Bay went 0/6 on the powerplay while giving up two shorthanded goals, and London went 2/3 on the powerplay.
North Bay looks to rebound Thursday at home when they host Tnias Mathurin and the Windsor Spitfires. Puck drop from Memorial Gardens is at 7 p.m.
