The North Bay Battalion had a chance to pull within four points of top spot in the Eastern Conference but the Oshawa Generals increased their lead to eight over the Battalion in a 5-2 win for the Generals Friday night.
It was a costly loss as not only did they lose ground to the Gens, they also lost their top defenceman, Cam Dineen, to injury.
The Battalion start was similar to Thursday night as the Generals were applying pressure in the Battalion zone and a quick transition led to an early goal by Brett McKenzie.
Mckenzie ripped home his 15th of the campaign as he got to a loose puck in the neutral zone on a nice chip pass from Maurizio Colella to make it 1-0 only 36 seconds into the game.
The Generals got the equalizer less than four minutes later as Jack Studnicka got a cross crease feed from Joe Manchurek on a 2 on 1 and beat Battalion rookie goaltender Julian Sime to end his shutout streak and tie the game at 1-1.
About three minutes later, Domenic Commisso slipped a quick pass from Kenny Huether off a face-off in the Troops zone which made it 2-1 at 12:31.
Then late first, the Generals move the puck around on the power play nicely and Riley Stillman netted his second of the game on the one-timer from the top of the circle making it 3-1.
Then more injury woes for the Troops in the final minute of the period, as Robbie Burt collided knee on knee with Cam Dineen well after the Arizona prospect moved the puck.
Daniel Walker went after Burt in the one-sided tilt. Burt was given a five-minute major for the late knee on knee hit. Walker got the instigator in the fight.
The bad news was Dineen was helped off the ice not putting any weight on his right leg and did not return. No word on the extent of the injury.
During the intermission, Brett McKenzie told the OHL Tonight that early second period power play would be key.
“We still have four on four for a bit but that three minutes should be key, we should probably score couple goals and turn the tides," McKenzie told OHL Tonight in the first intermission.
The Battalion looked to pull within one during that three minute PP, as Justin Brazeau was robbed on a desperation save as Brazeau had a wide open net on the doorstep and Jeremy Brodeur got his stick paddle down to make the remarkable save.
That was as close as the Battalion got during the three-minute power play.
Then the Generals increased the lead when Serran Noel fed Mitch Vande Sompel who was allowed to walk right in from the left point and his shot beat Julian Sime short side inside the post which made it 4-1 at 14:33.
The Battalion cut the lead in half late in the second when Steve Harland made a beautiful feed to Daniil Vertiy and the Russian forward went backhand and beat Brodeur for his 7th of the season which made it 4-2 at 18:30.
For Vertiy, that’s his fourth goal in the past three games.
Jack Studnicka got an easy empty netter with 1:14 left on the clock to seal the win for the Generals.
The loss breaks a modest two-game winning streak for the Troops who will host the Windsor Spitfires on Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. at Memorial Gardens.
