OTTAWA – Captain Mike Amadio and the North Bay Battalion could stand to borrow a Men In Black memory zapper before Thursday's home game against Saginaw.
Over the 68-game OHL grind, a team will be on each side of some cruel randomness a few times. For 53 minutes, the Battalion did enough to take a full two points against the Ottawa 67's, but wound up with a second consecutive overtime loss when Evan de Haan beat Jake Smith five-hole with 16 seconds left for a 4-3 win. De Haan's decider came two seconds after Amadio, who was stopped on a shorthanded breakaway by Ottawa's Liam Herbst in the first minute of OT, finished serving a slashing penalty.
For the Battalion (25-17-3-3), consecutive OT losses amount to three-point swings in favor of both Niagara (26-18-3-3) and fifth-place Ottawa (27-23-1-1). The Battalion have just seven home games left, while Niagara has 10.
“We just got to be able to come back next game, Thursday night at home against Saginaw,” said Amadio, who had his 69th point with the lone assist on Mathew Santos' first-period goal, which was the Battalion's OHL-best 20thshorthanded goal. “We know [Saginaw] is a good team. We just have to come back with our compete level and come out with two points.
“[Herbst] made a great save there. I was lucky enough to get a breakaway. Unfortunately it didn't go in for me.
“I thought there were a lot of positives to take from that game,” Amadio added. “We found our legs after a not-so-great start and I thought we played pretty well.
The regulation tie was preserved thanks in large part to defenceman Riley Bruce blocking about four shots after Daniil Vertiy's over-the-glass delay of game penalty with 58 seconds left in the third period.
The Battalion outshot the 67's 35-24 and were credited with a 14-8 edge in dangerous shots despite being shorthanded eight times. Ottawa hung around, though. The 67's equalizer came on a hometown bounce with 6:35 left in the third. Centre Ben Fanjoy rapped a sharp ricochet off the end boards before Jake Smith could get to the left post after moving for Travis Barron's off-the-mark shortside shot.
The Battalion have to make sure the loss does not linger. Their Family Day weekend consists of being home to the Spirit before visits to Eastern-leading Kingston on Saturday and Ottawa, again, on Monday.
“It's not like we didn't have our chances – even in the third period we had lots of opportunities,” said Battalion coach and director of hockey operations Stan Butler, whose team is back at The Arena at TD Place for a Family Day matinee on Monday. “We had chances to score and just didn't take advantage.
“We can't worry about it now. We can't change the outcome. We just have to move on. We have a crazy schedule – five games in nine days if you look ahead to Hamilton on Wednesday.
“We were good in the second and third period, but you have to capitalize on your chances and we didn't do that. That's something we have to clean up.”
The result left the Battalion with an 18-1-2-2 record in games that they have led after two periods. Zach Poirier scored his ninth of the season, and first in six games, with six seconds left in the second for a 3-2 lead. Max Kislinger also tallied in the second, burying from the slot after a centring pass from fellow yearling Justin Brazeau.
Artur Tyanulin – who had not scored since Ottawa's 8-2 win in North Bay on Jan. 10 – and overage Nathan Todd also scored for the 67's. Tyanulin's tally also came just after the end of a power play.
Brazeau was also the conduit for a give-and-go in the third period that sprung rookie defenceman Brady Lyle for his potential first OHL goal. Herbst denied the first shot and then somehow denied Lyle's rebound try for what would have been the dagger goal.
The Battalion's remaining 18 games are divided evenly into six three-game weeks. That includes a 3-in-3 Peterborough-Niagara-Oshawa in the second week of March and four other 3-in-4 stretches. It's going to be a gauntlet for a young lineup with only seven players in the 19-year-old and overage cohorts.
“We just have to practise well and maintain our bodies,” Amadio said.
De Haan's goal was his second overtime winner against the Battalion franchise. In 2013, de Haan scored the Sudbury Wolves' series winner against Brampton to seal a five-game first-round win.
