It was all hands on deck, but it still did not matter as the North Bay Battalion dropped a 6-3 decision to the visiting Kitchener Rangers.
With defencemen Riley Bruce and Cam Dineen and forwards Brett McKenzie and Justin Brazeau all back from NHL camps, the team still could not stop the Rangers from scoring five unanswered goals in the loss.
Head Coach Stan Butler's call for his veterans to step up their play was answered, at least early on, as Maurizio Colella and Steve Harland were instrumental in pacing the Troops to their early lead.
The Battalion played a solid "22 or 23 minutes," according to Butler, but "after that we shut it down pretty good."
The Battalion penalty kill was tested early, as just 21 seconds in, Zach Poirier headed to the box with an elbowing minor.
Shortly after the Poirier penalty expired, recent NHL-returnee McKenzie drove to the net and drew a slashing penalty on Kitchener's Jacob Cascasgnette.
Steve Harland found himself all alone in front on the ensuing power play, but Rangers netminder Dawson Carty calmly smothered the attempt.
The first goal came at 7:21, with the Battalion capitalizing on an Adam McMaster feed from behind the Rangers net and Steve Harland slotting home his first of the season. Maurizio Colella had the other helper on the goal.
Solid two-way efforts by McMaster and Brad Chenier and the calming presence of Dineen and Bruce helped the Battalion hold the Rangers to only one shot on goal midway through the opening period.
With Bruce in the penalty box, goalkeeper Brent Moran made a big save on a Kitchener drive, watched one ring off the post, and then conceded the tying goal on an in-close chance by Connor Bunnaman.
With Kitchener's Jake Henderson serving a minor, a point shot by Brady Lyle found the back of the net through a maze of players. Adam Thilander and Daniil Vertiy assisted on the power play marker, making it 2-1 North Bay.
With 8.5 seconds on the clock, Carty faced a 4-on-1 Battalion surge and made a spectacular save to keep the deficit at one.
Shots in the first period were 8-7 in favour of the home team.
Just 1:01 into the second period, Marizio Colella jumped the boards and accelerated into the Rangers zone, taking a feed from Harland and beating Carty to make the score 3-1.
Zach Shankar drew the second assist on the play.
Just as the ice seemed to be tilting in the Troops' favour, a broken play and a breakaway goal by Nick McHugh brought the Rangers to within one.
At 11:07, the Battalion got outmuscled at the Rangers blueline, and Kitchener broke in on a 3-on-1. Moran made the initial save on Elijah Roberts, but a healthy rebound was batted into the open net by Eric Guest, tying the game 3-3.
The Rangers continued to find their second-period groove, taking the lead on another rebound following a sprawling Moran save. Riley Damiani scored, giving the Rangers their first lead of the night.
The Rangers outshot the Battalion 14-10 in the second and led in the shots column 21-18 after two.
Few whistles and tentative forays into the attacking zones marked the first eight minutes of the third. Just under nine minutes into the frame, Brent Moran flashed the leather, making a gorgeous save on a Bunnaman drive.
Said Butler after the game about his team's play in the last period: "We just didn't compete. We're soft."
Poor defensive zone clearance and a Battalion giveaway saw Cascagnette convert to give the Rangers a two-goal cushion, and minutes later Henderson extended the lead to 6-3.
Late in the game, the Rangers took exception to a hit by captain Riley Bruce, who then squared off with Dylan Seitz in a tussle before hitting the showers.
The Rangers outshot the Battalion 27-25 in the 6-3 road victory.
For the second consecutive Friday, Butler was not thrilled with his team's overall play, saying, "The disappointing thing is we go up 3-1 and I'm pretty happy with our play, then we make a couple of mental mistakes and it's 3-3."
"Instead of responding in a positive way, we basically reverted back to the way we played the last game (a 3-1 loss)," said the coach.
Asked what could be done to turn the early season slide, Butler responded, "Our response is not there. Hockey is an up-and-down game. As much as you enjoy to win, you have to hate to lose more."
Before retreating to the locker room, Butler had this to say, loud enough for the players in the hallway to hear: "Until you work as hard as you need to for 60 minutes in the Ontario Hockey League, you have no chance to win."
The Battalion (0-2-0-0) next face the Mississauga Steelheads at 2 p.m. on Sunday. Next Battalion home game is Thursday at 7 p.m. when they take on the Owen Sound Attack.
