The North Bay Battalion continued their playoff push Wednesday as the Highway 17 geographical rival Sudbury Wolves came to town. The Troops would hand Sudbury its fifth straight loss, winning 3-2.
The Battalion (26-22-7-2) came into this game looking to rebound after a 5-4 overtime loss to the Oshawa Generals on Monday, but the Wolves (14-36-6) had lost four straight.
The first period began with a lot of frantic play by both teams, however seven minutes into the frame, Macauley Carson would put Sudbury up 1-0. Before the period ended, the Wolves would be up 2-0 thanks to Nolan Hutcheson finding the back of the net.
“We need to reset mentally and Stan Butler has shown us what we need to do and right now we are not doing what he showed us. We need to go out in the second and play like we usually do.” Defenceman Nick King said of the Battalion outlook in between periods.
The Troops came out flying early in the second as Luke Burghardt would break in on Sudbury netminder Jake McGrath, who made the save, but Burghardt stayed with the rebound and passed it back to Justin Brazeau who potted his 36th of the campaign.
After a quiet end to the second, North Bay was desperate to tie it up in the third, and Luke Moncada obliged by scoring his eighth to tie it at two.
Tempers would flair after that as Burghardt hit McGrath with his stick and Emmett Serenstis came in to defend his goaltender and dropped the gloves, with Burghardt scoring the takedown.
The third period would end tied at two, but 31 seconds into the extra frame, Jake Henderson ended it, giving the Troops a 3-2 victory.
After the game, head coach Stan Butler gave his take on the game.
“The Wolves were more ready to play, but when Brazeau scored, it gave us momentum. I thought it was fitting Jake Henderson gets the winning goal as I thought he was our best player all night.”
The Battalion are next in action Saturday when they hit the road to take on the Niagara Ice Dogs.
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