The North Bay Battalion continue to show they are road warriors, while the Barrie Colts dropped their sixth straight in a 5-2 victory for the Troops at the Molson Centre Saturday night.
The Battalion now has only one regulation loss in its last eight games and the road record improves to 7-2-1 on the season.
The Troops used five different scorers on this night on goals by Maurizio Colella, Zach Poirier, Jacob Ball, Cam Dineen, and Steve Harland.
Lucas Chiodo and Jason Willms replied for the Colts in the setback.
On a delayed penalty the Battalion open the scoring as Maurizio Colella put home a quick one timer from just inside the left face-off circle to give the Troops a 1-0 lead just under seven minutes in. Brett McKenzie and Eric Allair got the helpers on that opening goal.
However, the goal woke up the Colts as they started to apply some pressure in the Battalion zone as Lucas Chiodo put home a Brent Moran rebound at the midway point of the first to even the score 1-1.
The Colts continued to apply pressure in the final half of the period but Moran made a couple saves and got the help from his post on one occasion to keep things square at 1-1 after 20 minutes.
Battalion forward Maurizio Colella felt the opening period was “okay” during his first intermission on the OHL Tonight.
“I think we need to compete some more and hopefully get that forecheck going and get back to playing Battalion hockey,” said the veteran forward.
The Troops restore the lead mid second period on the power play as Mark Shoemaker’s shot on Colts goalie David Ovsjannikov came loose and Zach Poirier was able to wedge it past the Colts goalie to make it 2-1.
Not long after that the Battalion find the mesh as Jacob Ball puts home a juicy rebound off a Justin Brazeau shot which made it 3-1 only 15 seconds later.
The Colts bounce back after a power play as Jason Willms cashed in on a rebound off a point shot from Justin Murray which cut the Battalion lead to 3-2 near the 14-minute mark.
The Battalion gets back its two-goal lead on a great individual effort by Cam Dineen, as he picks up his own rebound and skates around the net and back into the slot and made no mistake on his next shot which made it 4-2 at 16:27.
The Troops certainly took advantage of their chances as the Colts out shot the visitors 20-12 in the middle session.
Colts blueliner Cam Lizotte told OHL Tonight that they have to stick to the game plan.
“Yeah we have to stick to the same page, our work ethic has been up and I think we should keep that and get pucks deep in the third period and we will get right back in it," he said.
Unfortunately that didn't happen for Lizotte and the rest of the Colts.
The Troops nearly made it a 5-2 lead as Steve Harland and Brett McKenzie came in on a shorthanded 2 on 0 but Ovsjannikov smothered a cross crease pass by McKenzie to Harland.
The Colts pulled the netminder with 1:50 remaining in regulation and the Troops kept the Colts off balance as Steve Harland iced it with an empty netter with less than 30 seconds left in regulation.
The Troops finished with 38 shots on goal while the Colts fired 43 at Brent Moran.
The Colts fall to 6-11-2 on the season.
The Battalion is back at home Sunday night as they face the visiting Erie Otters. Puck drop set for 7 p.m. at Memorial Gardens.
