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Battalion can't hold lead in road loss to Trout

"We are fighting for our playoff lives right now'
20190201battalion trout
Photo courtesy Sean Ryan.

As far as playoff positioning goes, there were two big points on the line as the Battalion squared off against the Mississauga Steelheads on Friday night. Behind the Trout by just a point in the standings, North Bay had an opportunity to leapfrog their Central Division rivals as the jockeying in the playoff picture continues. The Battalion got some separation, but it was in the wrong direction as they fell 6-3 at the Paramount Fine Foods Centre.

It’s the second straight loss for North Bay and a sixth loss in the last eight games as they fall below the .500 mark once again, sitting at 23-24-1-2 on the year.

Getting off to good starts is imperative in the Ontario Hockey League and it’s something North Bay has not done a lot of in the last stretch. Coming into the game they had led after the first period just twice in the last seven games, and we’re 2-5-0 overall in those contests.

The coaching staff has continually preached how success breeds off of good starts, and that’s why Friday night’s loss stings for the Troops, because not only did they have a well-played first period, they also held a two-goal lead in the second.

“I thought we had a good start today, things were looking our way there for a while,” says Battalion assistant coach Scott Wray.

“We were up 3-1 and then we stopped playing our way and let [Mississauga] creep back into the game.”

After Mississauga opened the scoring at 11:33 on Adam Varga’s 11th goal of the season, North Bay got the momentum heading into the break off Captain Justin Brazeau’s 44th goal of the year at 19:20.

Out of the gate in the second period, the Troops got goals from Mitchell Russell (9) at 1:41 and Matthew Struthers (22) at 3:59 on the powerplay. But that’s where the offense was halted for the rest of the night.

Wray says it was at this point, the team stopped playing the style of game that led to their two-goal lead.

“We just took our foot off the gas,” he said.

“We scored some key goals, we scored on the power play, we got a really nice goal to get a two-goal lead and then we just lulled ourselves to sleep.

“Instead of working and keeping our head down and keep playing the right way, they eventually got back into the game.”

A minute after Struthers power play goal, Nick Isaacson fired a puck from just in front of the blue line, which appeared to hit the crossbar and bounce back out, but was immediately called a goal on the ice. Issacson’s 9th goal of the season at 4:52 got the Steelheads to within one, and it was the first of five straight goals the home side would get to notch in the victory.

Cole Schwindt tied the game on the power play at 13:57 when he was set up on a beautiful pass from Keean Washkurak (who had a goal and two assists on the night) that caught Battalion Goaltender Christian Propp going the wrong way.

It was the definition of a tic-tac-toe play from the Trout, with Ryan Barbosa sending the pass from the point to the short side at the side of the net, and across the slot to a wide-open Schwindt, who was champing at the bit, waiting for the pass.

A similar play followed just over two minutes later on another Steelheads power play that ended up getting two goals on three opportunities.

At 16:19 Cole Carter found Alan Lyszczarczyk at the side of the net and he banked in his first of the game and 26th of the season, giving the Steelheads their second lead of the night, and the goal that would prove to be the game winner.

Wray acknowledge how tough it was to give up points in this head to head Central Division battle with several teams bunched up in the middle of the standings.

“This is a big weekend for us, these are big points,” he says.

“We’re fighting for our lives right now, we want to secure a playoff spot as quickly as possible but the way we’re playing, we’re making it hard on ourselves.”

Lyszczarczyk got his second goal of the night at 16:56 of the third period on a wraparound chance that he just squeezed under the pads of Propp to put the Steelheads up by a pair.

Washkurak (10) sealed the game with an empty net goal at 17:51.

The unassisted goal by Russell in the second period was the first time someone on the Battalion’s top line did not contribute to the goal in some way in the last ten goals scored by the Troops.

One line of offence? 

Going back to January 20th in which North Bay defeated London 4-3 in overtime, Brazeau, Struthers and/or Luke Burghardt have either scored or had one of the two assists in all the goals. Before Russell’s goal, it was Patrick Brown on the assist from Zach Malik at the end of the first period in that game against London, in which one of North Bay’s top three did not generate the production.

Following that Brown goal, the Troops goal scoring breaks down like this: 

January 20th vs London:

Struthers – assisted by Luke Burghardt and Theo Calvas at 4:02 of 3rd

Brandon Coe – assisted by Theo Calvas and Justin Brazeau at 2:17 of OT

January 24th vs Sudbury: 

Shutout 7-0

January 27th vs Kingston:

Brazeau – assisted by Simon Rose, Struthers at 8:41 of 1st

Burghardt – assisted by Struthers, Brazeau at 17:51 of 1st

Burghardt – assisted by Struthers at 1:41 of 2nd

Rose – assisted by Burghardt and Struthers at 15:45 of 2nd

January 31st vs Windsor:

Burghardt – assisted by Brazeau and Luke Moncada at 3:59 of 3rd

Burghardt – assisted by Brazeau and Malik at 10:19 of 3rd

It’s a stretch of over 245 minutes of ice time in which the Battalion’s lone offensive production came from the top line. Wray says it’s not just about scoring goals, but playing well as a unit in the offensive zone. He says “they just have to keep getting pucks to the net.”

“There’s a lot of good things happening but we just need other guys to get pucks to the net. It doesn’t always have to be the highlight reel goals, it’s just got to be a simple play. Funnel pucks to the net and start banging and crashing.”

The Battalion will have a chance to salvage some points out of the weekend on Sunday, and keep the gap close in the middle of the pack in the Eastern Conference when they host the Sarnia Sting at Memorial Gardens.


Matt Sookram

About the Author: Matt Sookram

Matthew Sookram is a Canadore College graduate. He has lived and worked in North Bay since 2009 covering different beats; everything from City Council to North Bay Battalion.
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