Kyle McDonald has accomplished a lot in his Major Junior career. Over 180 games played, over 130 points scored a second straight 30 goal season, but until Friday night, the Ottawa, Ontario native had one statistical oddity that he promptly erased in their 3-0 victory by the Battalion over the Oshawa Generals.
Fresh off inking an entry level deal with the Dallas Stars, Kyle McDonald (29) got things started for the Battalion by scoring his first career shorthanded goal at 10:10. The play was set up by Pasquale Zito who forced a turnover at centre ice as the Generals had their power play moving through the neutral zone. The poke check sent the puck right up to the Generals blue line where McDonald was stationed and allowed the 6’4” forward to go in untested and his glove side shot beat Jacob Oster to open up the scoring.
“I’ve had chances to score shorthanded in the past but never got it done, so I definitely was aware that was my first shorthanded goal when it went in,” he says.
The Battalion struck again quickly when the Troops forced another turnover in a precarious area for the Generals. This time it was Nikita Tarasevich taking advantage of a lazy pass attempt behind the net which he intercepted, walked out in front of the net unnoticed and promptly buried the puck for his 15th of the season at 11:20, giving the Troops a 2-0 lead which they carried into the intermission.
McDonald (30) contributed again during the second period. The Troops had possession in the offensive zone with time winding down on the power play, that’s when Dalyn Wakely sent the puck out from behind the net to a wide open McDonald in the slot and he beat Oster for a second time just as the power play expired, making it technically an even strength goal, although the Oshawa’s Luca D’Amato never got back into the play after serving his roughing penalty and McDonald took advantage of the extra open ice near the front of the net.
It’s the seventh multi-goal game of the season for McDonald and since February 2nd, McDonald has points in 13 of 15 games – scoring nine goals and 17 points to push his season total to 47 points in his over age season.
“I think the biggest factor this season is just getting comfortable again. I was out for a little bit and I just focused on getting my legs under me and continue to play hard and with the team really figuring things out it allows me to play better and everyone else to play better as well,” says McDonald.
The win is the fifth in a row for the North Bay Battalion and the second straight shutout for first year netminder Charlie Robertson, who blanked the Niagara IceDogs last Sunday at home. He now has three career shutouts after stopping 28 Generals chances on Friday night and hasn’t given up a goal since the February 25th game in Flint. Both Battalion goaltenders have been fantastic in this five-game stretch as they have combined for three shutouts and have allowed just one goal in their last 275 minutes of ice time, dating back to the 5:23 mark of the second period in the 5-2 win over Sudbury on March 2nd.
“It’s good to see those results as we’ve been playing hard in our d-zone,” says McDonald. “But you have to give a ton of credit to the goalies because they have been playing great and giving us every opportunity to win games.”
The Battalion went 0/2 on their power play opportunities and Oshawa went 0/3.
It’s scoreboard watching season and with the Barrie Colts pulling off what many would say was an upset victory over the London Knights on Thursday evening, the Battalion regained a big two points in the win over Oshawa to maintain their five-point lead in the Central Division with six games remaining.
The Battalion are trying to win the division for a second straight year, something they haven’t done since moving to North Bay and are just two wins shy of their franchise all-time regular season high of 44 wins, set when the team was still in Brampton in 2005-06. Last year's 43 wins is the top mark in North Bay. They will be looking to tie last year's win total when they take on the London Knights on Sunday afternoon at Memorial Gardens. You can catch that game on the Frontline Broadcast on YouTube.
