The North Bay Battalion travelled south to take on the Niagara IceDogs for a rare Tuesday evening matchup. Yet by the end of the night, the IceDogs ended up the victors, 3-2 in a shootout.
Early in the first, the Troops hit the ground running as Owen Van Steensel netted his fourth of the season. The goal was Van Steensel’s second in as many games and was the only marker in the opening frame.
The lack of scoring would change quickly come the second period, however. Just under two minutes in, Danil Gushchin potted his 23rd of the year to tie the game at one.
Towards the midway point of the period, Niagara broke the tie off the stick of Anthony Agostinelli (2). Yet, the Battalion did not wait long to tie things back up as Mitchell Russell added his 21st just over a minute later.
There was a scary moment towards the end of the period for North Bay. IceDogs forward Gushchin came out of the corner and made contact with Troops netminder Dom DiVincentiis as he went to play the shot off of Pano Fimis’ stick. As DiVincentiis went down, it looked like Danil Gushchin ran into DiVincentiis at the top of the crease with his shoulder hitting the goalie's head.
The collision resulted in the goalie leaving the game and Joe Vrbetic coming in, while the play was reviewed, Gushchin was handed a five-minute major for checking to the head.
Despite the ensuing five-minute powerplay, although shortened by a Dalyn Wakely penalty, neither teams could solve the two netminder throughout the remaining regulation time. For the second time (7-6 IceDogs victory on December 16) in as many meetings between the divisional foes, the game headed to overtime.
Three-on-three overtime provided some highlights, especially one golden opportunity by Paul Christopolous. With just 22 seconds left in the extra frame, Niagara thought they had won the game after getting the puck past Vrbetic.
Yet upon video review, it was determined the puck crossed the goal line after the net had been knocked off its moorings by a Niagara player in scramble. The IceDogs, who had left the ice already, were called back out to finish overtime.
After six rounds of the shootout, the IceDogs were able to skate off with the victory and extra point. After Vrbetic shut the door on the first three IceDogs, the Niagara squad netted three in a row with Brice Cooke netting the eventual shootout winner.
Brandon Coe and Ty Nelson had the Battalion shootout tallies. Nikita Tarasevich had the game on his stick but could not solve Josh Rosenzweig to keep the shootout going to a seventh round.
The Battalion will be back in action Thursday when they host the Mississauga Steelheads.
