The North Bay Battalion dropped a 3-2 road decision to the Sudbury Wolves Friday. The Troops sit in third and are now six points behind their rivals in the Central Division standings and seven back of the Mississauga Steelheads. With a Niagara IceDogs victory Friday night, they are now tied with the Troops in points for the final Eastern Conference playoff spot, although North Bay holds the tiebreaker with a superior winning percentage.
After weathering a goaltending crisis before the Christmas break, in the first month of 2017, North Bay Battalion defencemen are dropping like flies.
Cam Dineen is out until March, Eric Allair has missed time due to injury, Brady Lyle played Thursday in a 2-1 loss to the Mississauga Steelheads but left the game and did not dress Friday versus Sudbury, and recently acquired Jesse Saban was a late scratch in what would have been his second game in a Battalion uniform.
Playing with four regular rearguards (Riley Bruce, Mark Shoemaker, Zach Shankar and Adam Thilander) and forward Daniel Walker on the back end, the Troops were facing a tall task against a Sudbury team that has jumped over the Battalion in the standings in recent weeks. The Battalion have a game in hand on the Wolves.
Friday's game was the third meeting of eight between the rivals. The road team had each won once thus far, with both games requiring overtime.
Sudbury forward Ryan Valentini took a David Levin return pass on the right side of the North Bay zone and beat an out-of-position Brent Moran for his 13th of the season, and a 1-0 lead.
The Wolves took exception to a Brett McKenzie hit on Levin that forced the Sudbury winger to the bench with a few minutes to play in the first. The Battalion players kept their cool, allowing Sudbury forward Michael Pezzetta to go unaccompanied to the box for an interference call.
Sudbury captain Kyle Capobianco fired a howitzer high and past Moran after the puck took an odd bounce off of the end boards. Capobianco's seventh of the season increased the Sudbury lead to 2-0.
Before the period expired, and with the Wolves a man short, Liam Dunda and Capobianco broke in on Moran on a shorthanded 2-on-1. Moran made a huge save, keeping the deficit at two.
The Troops have been woeful in the faceoff circle, and the trend continued Friday with Sudbury holding a 12-6 advantage, as well an 11-9 lead in shots-on-goal.
Facing a two-goal deficit entering the second period was ominous for the Battalion, as the team had not scored more than two goals in one game in eleven straight outings. The Troops were 8-13-3-0 when surrendering the first goal.
A 36-second carried-over man advantage did nothing to jump-start the North Bay offence, as the Wolves killed off the remaining powerplay time with ease.
However, a third consecutive powerplay for the Troops came almost immediately after the first had expired. With Reagan O'Grady serving a minor for checking-from-behind, Shoemaker took a pass from Thilander and fired one from the top of the circle. Justin Brazeau, stationed in front, tipped the puck past Jake McGrath, cutting the Sudbury lead to 2-1.
Valentini scored a powerplay marker, his second goal of the game, off of a brilliant feed from Dmitry Sokolov. Valentini's 14th beat a diving Moran, who had been frozen by Sokolov's drive to the net, and restored the two-goal Wolves advantage.
Down 3-1, trailing in shots 23-21, the Troops were much improved in the faceoff circle, turning a large opening period deficit into only a two-faceoffs-won disadvantage after two periods (21-19). The Battalion was 6-14-3-0 when trailing after two periods.
Despite the odds being stacked against them, the Troops struck quickly at the start of the third period. Shankar fed Steve Harland on the doorstep to cut the Sudbury lead to 3-2 just 23 seconds in.
The shifty Sokolov, who had recently scored two goals in five straight games, was robbed by a Moran glove save that surely would have put the game out of reach halfway through the third.
McKenzie had a chance to tie the game with under six minutes to play, but Wolves goaltender McGrath denied North Bay's leading scorer.
Moran skated to the North Bay bench in favour of an extra attacker, and a timeout was called after the Wolves were called for icing, but McGrath shut the door on the Battalion's hopes as the Wolves held on for a 3-2 win.
The playoff jockeying continues Sunday, as the Troops host the Barrie Colts at Memorial Gardens at 2 p.m., while the Wolves and Mississauga Steelheads meet at Sudbury Arena, also Sunday at 2 p.m. The Wolves will visit North Bay next Thursday, January 19, on Centennials Alumni Night.
