It wasn’t pretty but at the end of Thursday night, the North Bay Battalion came away with the 4-3 overtime victory over the divisional rival Mississauga Steelheads.
Coming into the game, the Troops held a 1 point advantage over the Trout, but because the game ended in overtime, North Bay (43 points) only gained one point on Mississauga (41 points).
“The best thing that could have happened tonight is that we got two points.” Assistant Coach Adam Dennis said after the game.
“I don’t think we played very well, I thought we chased the game for most of the night and we got some big saves in the second and third periods.”
After the first period of play the Troops found themselves down 2-0 but rallied in the second with goals by Nick King and Theo Calvas. King’s goal also extended a five game point streak.
“It feels pretty good,” King said after the game of his streak.
“I like winning more though and it’s awesome in the past little while we have had a point.”
Mississauga would pull ahead again, only to have North Bay come back and tie it by, you guessed it, Justin Brazeau.
Brazeau would again find the back of the net in the overtime frame to give North Bay the victory. The goal was his 39th which tied his career high from last season.
“I was surprised to get that much space but it’s a big two points for our team since they are right behind us.” The unflappable Captain said moments after his goal.
“I don’t think we had our best game but we knew we had to find a way to win. We would have liked to win it in regulation but that second point is huge.” Brazeau added.
“Justin Brazeau is being Justin Brazeau,” Dennis remarked when asked about the continued dominant play of No.17.
“We are really happy that we get to have him the rest of the season and I think the fans in North Bay should be pretty excited to watch something pretty special.”
Goaltender Christian Propp continued his strong play as well with 36 saves on 39 shots, some of them being 10 bell saves.
“I thought he started a little bit slow, but he really held us in there.” Said the former Memorial Cup winning goaltender in Adam Dennis. “It’s not about how many saves you make but the timing of it.”
The Troops are back in action Saturday when they travel to take on the Peterborough Petes.
