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Battalion control Kingston in crucial series opener (PHOTOS & VIDEO)

North Bay goaltender Jake Smith registered an 18-save shutout to backstop the Battalion to an 8-0 win in game one of the Troops' first round playoff series against the Kingston Frontenacs at Memorial Gardens on Friday night.

North Bay goaltender Jake Smith registered an 18-save shutout to backstop the Battalion to an 8-0 win in game one of the Troops' first round playoff series against the Kingston Frontenacs at Memorial Gardens on Friday night. PHOTOS BY TOM MARTINEAU

If game one of a playoff series is supposed to send a message to the opposing squad, then mission accomplished for the North Bay Battalion.

The Troops flattened the Kingston Frontenacs 8-0 in game one of the best-of-seven Eastern Conference quarterfinals at Memorial Gardens on Friday night.

A five-goal second period buried the Fronts, with the Battalion scoring short-handed, even-strength and on the power play to steal the opening spar. 

All of the top Troops turned up on the scoresheet, with Nick Paul leading the way with two goals and one assist and Ryan Kujawinski adding two goals of his own in a first-star performance against his former squad.

Brenden Miller, Zach Bratina, Mike Amadio and Riley Bruce were the other goal scorers, while captain Marcus McIvor contributed with three assists.

“We played a really hard, full 60-minutes, and that’s what we have to do every night,” Kujawinski said after the game. “That’s just playoff hockey, that’s what you have to do: finish every check, be hard on the opposition, and we did that all night.”

Even though the Frontenacs looked frazzled from the opening puck drop, North Bay netminder Jake Smith was still called on for 18 quality saves en route to the cleansheet performance and third-star honours.

“He played very well tonight; there’s a reason he played right to the finals last year,” said Battalion head coach Stan Butler.  “When he had to make big saves tonight, he did. You could tell he was ready to go tonight.”

The Fronts’ formidable first line of Sam Bennett, Spencer Watson and Lawson Crouse were a combined minus-11 on the night and were responsible for a few key turnovers in the Troops’ rally.

“North Bay does a great job of backchecking and if you try to make plays off the rush it’s probably going to end up as a turnover,” said Frontenac head coach Paul McFarland. “Too many times tonight we tried to force things that weren’t there and it cost us."

Perhaps playoff jitters played a part, but the first frame was full of choppy but intense play. The Battalion whaled their weight around early, forcing the Fronts to respond in kind and run themselves out of position. 

Two penalties, a broken stanchion and a handful of scrums brought the opening period pace down, but everything opened up after Mike Amadio broke the ice with three minutes left in the period. 

Battalion overage player of the year McIvor fired a weak wrist shot on net through traffic, which Kingston goalie Lucas Peressini kicked straight to the slot for Amadio’s picking.

With no pace lost in the first intermission, the Troops launched an all-out assault on the Fronts in the second period. 

Less than five minutes into the period, Nick Moutrey made a miraculous move on an odd-man rush, slipping Nick Paul a one-handed pass while being hauled down, which Paul turned into the two-goal lead.

Feeding off the frantic fans, the Battalion then erupted for four more goals in a six-minute span.

Three minutes after Kujawinski capitalized on a coughed up Kingston power play breakout to make it 3-0, defenceman Riley Bruce scored his first career OHL goal with a floating wrist shot from the far point.

Paul would soon after add his second of the game with a one-timer off a backdoor cross-ice power play pass from Amadio. Then, just three minutes after that, Zach Bratina scored his first goal since returning from injury earlier this month.

That string of scoring sent Kingston starter Peressini chasing from the net in favour of backup Jeremy Helvig.

But his fate fared no better either, after allowing two more goals to Kujawinski and Miller in the third period to finish off the Fronts.

“North Bay played a smart game: they got pucks in deep, they pressured us on the forecheck and put a lot of pucks on net,” said McFarland. “They beat us at our own game, so you’ve got to give them credit.

“But at the end of the day, it’s one game,” McFarland added. “Based on what we've been through all year, we’ve got a lot more and I think the guys will respond in the right way."

In the end, the Troops scored on two of six power play opportunities and shut down the powerful Frontenac power play on all four of their opportunities, all while outshooting the visitors 41-18. 

Battalion bench boss Butler said he expects a much better Kingston squad to show up on Sunday afternoon though. 

"I think both teams are evenly matched, but sometimes these things happen," said Butler. “I don’t place a lot of emphasis on it. From an honest perspective, they are a much better team than that and we are going to see that on Sunday." 

“We have to be ready to expect them to come out a better team," echoed Kujawinski. "But we just have to play the same style and the way we did today." 

Game two is set for 2 p.m. at Memorial Gardens on Sunday afternoon. 

Battalion vs Frontenacs Game 1 March 27th, 2015 from Chris Dawson on Vimeo.

 


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Liam Berti

About the Author: Liam Berti

Liam Berti is a University of Ottawa journalism graduate who has since worked for BayToday as the City Council and North Bay Battalion reporter.
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