Battalion nab first home win in dramatic fashion(VIDEO)

Battalion captain Barclay Goodrow looks to shovel the puck by goaltender Christopher Festarini. Photo by Mark Pare.

It was a battle back effort that gave North Bay fans something to talk about at Thanksgiving dinner as the Battalion (6-6-0-0) landed their first home win of the OHL season, downing the Niagara IceDogs (3-4-1-1) in a shootout 5-4.

Vincent Praplan and Carter Verhaeghe each converted for their teams in Round 1 but Jake Smith shut the door on the other two Niagara shooters and Captain Barclay Goodrow provided the winner in the third and final round.

Jake Smith made 33 saves while his counterpart Christopher Festarini stopped 34 of the 38 shots he faced.

“There were a lot of parts of our game that quite frankly, we didn’t like as coaches,” said head coach Stan Butler, “But we needed to get a win and we’ve run into some tough luck. Even in Owen Sound on Saturday night, I thought we played pretty well, we could’ve won the game, we didn’t but it’s just nice to break out and score some goals today.”

Goodrow also tied the game up in the third period on a breakaway, thanks to a great lead pass from line mate Jamie Lewis. Safe to say he’s also happy to get some goals on the board.

“Stan coaches a pro style game and he teaches responsibility in the defensive zone, but then he lets you be creative in the offensive zone and we have a lot of talent up front,” he said, “We’ve been waiting for a game like this to score some goals and hopefully our confidence is back in our forwards and we can keep it rolling.”

Brett McKenzie opened the scoring at 3:27, intercepting a puck in the offensive zone and walked in on goaltender Festarini.

Aleksander Mikulovich’s first career OHL goal tied things up at 18:30, an unassisted marker.

The IceDogs got the power play to begin the second period and 54 seconds in, Verhaeghe launched a one-timer from the right faceoff circle by Smith after some great passing.

Looking for his second of the game a few moments later, the Maple Leaf prospect ringed a shot off the post after cutting into the slot on the rush.

He would collect an assist at 16:21, when Sault product Brendan Perlini cut around the defending Brenden Miller and found space in the slot to shoot shorthanded.

“(Perlini and Verhaeghe) have tons of skill, that’s probably one of the best one-two combos in the league right now,” said Goodrow, “They have (37) points between the two of them so we knew coming into the game, we needed to shut them down to get the two points. They ended up hurting us a bit but we battled back and found a way.”

It was tough to find a way while down bodies but Butler says Blake Clarke had his MRI done yesterday on his shoulder and should know something this week. Kyle Wood is using a cane instead of crutches and Butler says he’s working out now. Butler also added Dylan Blujus is practicing to get in game shape after knee surgery in Tampa Bay last month.

The Troops would bring it to within one with just over a minute remaining in the second. Matt McLeod’s shot was kicked out by Festarini, but right to an opportune Mike Amadio on the door step.

Steven Duda tied the game with a shot from the point that made a couple bounces before finding the twine at 5:53, but just 37 seconds later, Perlini restored the lead with his second of the contest.

Goodrow’s equalizer at 11:11 sent things to an uneventful overtime period, but when the shootout began, it set the stage for more heroics.

“It’s huge,” Goodrow said of the win, “Obviously we had a tough game here on Friday (against Peterborough), with the long wait before the game, it was tough to get the legs going. This is a great place to play and they just showed it again today. The crowd was behind us and it definitely gave us an extra jump in our step come late in the third period and overtime.”

The Battalion host the Plymouth Whalers on Thursday night. Puck drop scheduled for 7:00pm.

Shootout
NB-Praplan (GOAL), Henriksson (SAVE), Goodrow (GOAL)
NIA- Verhaeghe (GOAL), Perlini (SAVE), Protapovich (SAVE)

Game Notes
-The attendance was 3,506.
-The IceDogs were 1/5 on the power play. North Bay went scoreless on four opportunities.