Brad Chenier scored the game-winning goal at 1:35 of overtime to give the Battalion their first victory of the 2019-20 season, winning 3-2 on Thursday night over the visiting Kitchener Rangers.
Skating with a four-on-three advantage with Rangers import Ville Ottavainen in the penalty box for high sticking, Chenier tapped home a back door, cross-ice pass from Brandon Coe to win it after deflecting a mirror image opportunity wide of the mark a half minute earlier. The goal was Chenier’s second of the game, with Harrison Caines netting the other goal for the Troops in the first period.
“I thought we played really hard,” said head coach Stan Butler after the game. “Obviously, they’re a good team, they’re experienced on defence. I thought our boys competed hard.”
Los Angeles King prospect Jacob Ingham, acquired from Mississauga over the summer, was also solid in goal for the Rangers, stopping 28 of 31 shots while Joe Vrbetic earned his first career OHL victory between the pipes for North Bay, turning aside 29 of 31 Kitchener shots. Vrbetic’s best stop came late in the third period when he denied Declan McDonnell on a two-on-one break to keep the game tied at two.
The special teams were active for both teams tonight, with each team scoring a pair of powerplay goals. Chenier’s first goal, midway through the second, came with Kitchener’s Arber Xhekaj serving a bad unsportsmanlike conduct minor for giving a shot to Matthew Struthers after the whistle. North Bay seemed to be in control of the game after that, up 2-0, until Kitchener was able to tie it with goals from last season’s 50-goal scorer Jonathan Yantsis and 2019 top draft selection Francesco Pinelli.
The Battalion’s young players again played a strong game, with Paul Christopoulos in particular punching above his weight as a 16-year-old rookie, receiving ice time late in the third period with the game tied. He was also denied by Ingham on a breakaway opportunity in the first period after following his check out to the top of the defensive zone and stripping the puck away.
“I like all our young guys,” said Butler. “They’re bringing it every game. What they’re doing is raising the level of the older guys by the way they’re playing, which is really encouraging.”
A crowd of 1,922 witnessed the win, a North Bay Battalion record-low for a home game at Memorial Gardens. The Battalion travels to Sudbury tomorrow night for the first of eight meetings this season with the Wolves before taking the weekend off. Kitchener, who is coached for a fourth straight year by former Buffalo Sabres defenceman Jay McKee, travels to Sault Ste. Marie to face the Greyhounds tomorrow night before finishing their road trip in Sudbury on Sunday afternoon.
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