Cam Dineen’s second goal of the game in overtime was the game-winner at 3:15 of 3 on 3 OT as the North Bay Battalion edged the Sudbury Wolves 6-5 in an exciting end-to-end seesaw battle between the Northern rivals.
The offensive defenceman was given some room to move and he took advantage of it to net the OT winner.
“Obviously in overtime there is a lot of room out there being three on three so you just have to hold onto it and look for your lanes and look for passes so they kind of took away the middle, then it opened up real quick when I was skating it through so I kind of used the D that was playing me one on one as a screen to kind of shoot around him and I guess the goalie didn’t really see it,” said Dineen, who had four points in the high-scoring affair.
It's the second straight comeback win for the Troops over the Wolves. Tonight the Troops battled back from a 5-3 3rd period deficit to force OT, and then on Sunday in Sudbury, the Battalion battled back from a 5-2 deficit to win 6-5.
"I mean not a bad game for Cam, I mean he gets two goals and two assists, that’s four points, that’s not bad for a centre, oh sorry I forgot he’s a D,” joked Battalion head coach Stan Butler about his offensive defenceman.
Butler will take the two points but he was not thrilled with some of the breakdowns and turnovers by his young squad, along with allowing the Wolves to go 3 for 4 on the power play.
"I found there were some peaks and valleys in the game. I think at times both teams owned it and then the other team took it away from them so it was a funny game."
The Wolves were hungry to make amends for the Troops comeback win Sunday and came out controlling the play in the opening minutes.
The Wolves got on the board with a strange one, as Shane Bulitka banked a pass intended for a teammate in the slot off a Battalion defender and the puck went past a bewildered Mat Woroniuk which made it 1-0 less than 7 minutes in.
The Troops get the equalizer late in the period on a delayed penalty. Adam McMaster rushed the puck down the left wing and did a perfect drop pass to Luke Moncada who ripped it top corner on Marshall Frappier with only 13 seconds left in the period.
To the second period, Battalion starter Mat Woroniuk made a big save last local product Troy Lajeunesse, in his first game with the fed Owen Gilhula a breakaway pass after he was coming out of the penalty box. Gilhula tried to go high blocker by Woroniuk made the solid save.
The bounces continue for Luke Burghardt as Frappier deflected a shot with his blocker and Burghardt batted it in to give the Battalion a 2-1 lead at 11:33 of the second. It was his sixth goal early in the season.
The Battalion extended the lead on a short 5 on 3 power play as Cam Dineen walked into the top of the circle and wired a shot through traffic past Frappier with gave the Troops a 3-1 lead.
But just like the Troops on Sunday, the Wolves were not going to let the home team get away with this one easily.
The Wolves cut into the lead late in the second as Blake Murray beat Woroniuk high with a quick shot below the right circle on a Wolves power play which made it 3-2 near the 18-minute mark of the period.
The Wolves got some late period heroics as Troy Lajeunesse completed a nifty three-way passing play and just tapped a backdoor pass bast Woroniuk which made it 3-3 with 17 seconds left in the period.
The Wolves took the lead again on a backdoor pass from Dmitry Sokolov to Blake Murray who netted his second of the contest just over three minutes into the third.
Murray continued to rock the Battalion as he shoveled home a backdoor pass from Kyle Rhodes as Murray was parked on the left side of the net less than three minutes later to give the visitors a 5-3 lead.
Now it was time for the Battalion to battle back from a late 3rd period deficit. Kyle Potts drove the net and Sudbury product Bradley Chenier put home the rebound which made it 5-4 with over six minutes left in regulation.
Less than three minutes later, the Battalion move the puck around efficiently on the power play and Adam Thilander ripped home a one-timer from inside the left circle to even the score at 5-5.
The Wolves hit a crossbar late, as the game headed to overtime.
Brandon Coe had the best chance early as he took a blocked shot on three on three and went all alone on Frappier but was the rookie first-rounder was unable to deke around the Wolves netminder who made a great pad save.
Cam Dineen, took the puck from his own hash marks, and rushed down the right side and ripped a shot high on Frappes for the game-winner.
The win improves the Battalion to 3-0 on the season while the Wolves fall to 0-2-0-1.
