The Niagara IceDogs were touted to be a tough test for the North Bay Battalion, but the Troops made their opponents look like puppies on Friday night by pouncing on the home team 6-1 at the Meridian Centre.
After a convincing 7-1 win at home against the Hamilton Bulldogs on Thursday night, the Troops turned in an equally as aggressive and assertive performance against the IceDogs on Friday.
The offensively opportunistic Battalion boys exposed the IceDogs’ inability to defend on the rush, scoring four fast goals in the second period en route to a statement-making division win.
Six different Troops contributed in the all-out artillery assault, with David Sherman’s second period goal being the ultimate game-winner.
Meanwhile, Zach Shankar was the top Troop on the scoresheet, registering three assists, while captain Mike Amadio added two more helpers and Kyle Potts scored his first career major-junior goal.
The other North Bay goalscorers were Mathew Santos, Brett McKenzie, Miles Liberati and Cam Dineen.
“I think we’re just competing a lot harder and we’re winning our one-on-one battles,” said Dineen, who has 11 points through 9 games in November. “That helps us create more offence and when we have more offence we’re going to score more goals.”
Starting goaltender Jake Smith was clutch when called upon, stopping 28 quality Niagara chances and earning first star honours in his second game since returning from a month-long shoulder injury.
Niagara had their typical flashes of brilliance on the offensive side of the equation, but ultimately looked too demoralized to recover after being smothered by shorthanded goals and Smith's shutting the door on their offensive weapons.
And the Troops wasted no time in launching their overwhelming attack.
Just over two minutes into the game, captain Amadio, who’s been on an absolute tear as the leader of the team, fed linemate Santos a shorthanded two-on-one feed that he fanned on just enough to elude goaltender Brent Moran with a knuckle puck.
Later in the period though, the IceDogs offence proved how potent their transition game can be after all-star forward Josh Ho-Sang sprung a sprinting Brendan Perlini in stride over the blue line. Using big Riley Bruce as a screen, Perlini sniped his wrist shot over a down-and-out Smith.
Ho-Sang’s assist extends his league-leading 15-game point scoring streak, during which the prolific forward boasts 22 points.
But with the Meridian Centre crowd at their peak decibel level for the noise-meter on the jumbotron, Sherman silenced the Niagara faithful by redirecting a Zach Shankar point shot for his second of the season.
Ten minutes later, the Troops found themselves on their third penalty kill of the game, which did nothing to kill their momentum.
As if being the last line of defence against the Niagara power play wasn’t a tall task in itself, Smith had the playmaking poise to headman the puck to forward Brett McKenzie, who streaked down the left side and scored the second shorthanded goal of the game.
The Troops were relentless in their offensive pursuit to finish the game too, continuing to catch the IceDogs either too far ahead of the play or flat-footed on their transitions.
In the matter of six minutes of game time, Liberati, Dineen and Potts were able to score on uncontested shots on fast rushes with forwards flooding the net.
Liberati’s goal, his eighth of the season, sent starter Moran to the bench in favour of Stephen Dhillon, the second time in as many days the Battalion have chased the opposing starting netminder.
But Dhillon fared no better either, surrendering his first shot on goal to Dineen and then another just two minutes into the third period to Potts.
“It helps a ton when the forwards get in front of the net and screen the goalie,” said Dineen. “You can just throw it on net and you never know what’s going to happen.”
The encouraging win advances the gang green to within two points of the IceDogs and Mississauga Steelheads, and they will have a chance to pull even for third in the Central Division when they play the Flint Firebirds at Memorial Gardens on Sunday afternoon.
