It is incredibly difficult to beat a team in three straight games in any league, let alone trying to do it when you’re playing shorthanded such as the North Bay Battalion were as they entered Game Three against the Kingston Frontenacs.
With a 2-0 series lead, the Battalion hit the road to head to Kingston and they didn’t have their regular season point leader in Anthony Romani, their number one goaltender in Dom DiVincentiis, nor did they have veteran Andrew LeBlanc suited up for game three and the Fronts got just enough offensive for their first win of the series in Monday's 4-1 victory for Kingston.
Both Jacob Therrien and Liam Arnsby were in the lineup for North Bay. Therrien left game two after taking an ugly and dirty hit into the boards that somehow went undisciplined. Arnsby was sent off for a major penalty for head contact in the first period in game two but avoided any further repercussions.
“We knew they were going to give us their best and we were just going to have to be ready. We didn’t play to the way we were capable of playing in that first period, but we need to learn from that and we’ve got 40 minutes left to play,” said Battalion forward Dalyn Wakely, speaking to the OHL Tonight broadcast following an uncharacteristic first period for the Battalion in which they allowed three goals.
Ethan Miedema (1) opened the scoring at 12:19. He received a stretch pass from the Fronts blue line from Gage Hayes who got the puck across the ice to the North Bay blue line where Miedema used his speed to beat the defender to the puck. It gave him enough clearance to go one on one with Battalion goaltender Mike McIvor and he fed it backhand through the five hole to give the home side a 1-0 lead. It was the first time the Fronts had a lead in the series.
Roman Schmidt (1) made it 2-0 by walking into a loose puck at the top of the near side circle and slapping a shot that went over the shoulder of McIvor at 17:47.
It was 3-0 before the end of the first after Matthew Soto (1) scored on the power play for the Fronts. At 18:33 McIvor blocked a perimeter shot, but the rebound ended up in front of the net with a few bodies in the area. North Bay had a chance to clear, but Soto got to it first and managed to slide the puck under McIvor.
Game Three’s haven’t been kind to the Battalion over the course of their playoff history with a combined record of 16-23, including just three wins in their last ten played.
History aside, the Battalion had opportunities in the second period to get back into the game and they responded early in the frame.
Ty Nelson’s point shot went off the pads of Fronts goaltender Mason Vaccari and right onto the stick of Jacob Therrien who redirected the rebound past Vecarri for his first of the post-season at 3:34.
Therrien was slotted onto the top line in the absence of Romani, playing alongside Wakely and Owen Van Steensel. Wakely talked about the new look of their line saying, “It’s different having played with Romani all year long and all of a sudden, he’s not there, but I’ve played alongside JT during practice and I think we’ll be alright. We’ll just try to stick to our game and do what we can.”
It was the only goal the Battalion could get past Vecarri in the second and trying to overcome a second period deficit has been a difficult task with the Troops just 2-14-3-1 when they trail after 40 minutes in the regular season.
Both teams goaltenders settled into a groove in the third, making some key saves and unfortunately for the Battalion they wouldn’t be able to overcome the big lead the Fronts had built in the third and Paul Ludwinski (1) was able to put the game away with an empty net goal at 18:57.
The Battalion were 0/2 on the power play and 2/3 on the penalty kill. Kingston outshot North Bay 27-21 in front of 2590 fans at Slush Puppie Place.
The Battalion and the Frontenacs will square off for game four of this first round playoff series on Wednesday.
