Battalion Steal Wild Game 2 from Barber Poles
In their wildest game of the season, the Ottawa 67’s lost a heartbreaker.
Game 2 of their first-round matchup with the North Bay Battalion saw Ottawa find goals from six different scorers, but the Troops notched the winner with just 2.5 seconds remaining, to go up 2-0 in the best-of-seven series.
Chris Barlas, Tyler Boucher, Brady Stonehouse, Jack Beck, Jack Matier, and Luca Pinelli all tallied the first playoff goals of their OHL careers, and Will Cranley made 21 saves in relief of Max Donoso.
The game got off to a roaring start, with a Mitchell Russell deflection opening the scoring for North Bay, just 1:24 in. However, in the span of just over four minutes, the Barber Poles opened the floodgates, and stormed out to a 3-1 lead.
First, it was Pinelli finding Matthew Mayich at the point, and his long shot was deflected home by Barlas for his first career playoff goal, knotting things up at 1-1.
42 seconds later, Vsevolod Gaidamak found a streaking Vinzenz Rohrer, to the left of Battalion netminder Joe Vrbetic. Rohrer’s searing shot was stopped by the pad of Vrbetic, but Boucher was on the doorstep to open his OHL postseason account, and give the 67’s their first lead of the series.
On a similar play, just before the midway point of the frame, Alex Johnston fed Thomas Sirman. Vrbetic turned his shot aside, but crashing the net was Stonehouse for his first playoff marker, and making it 3-1 Ottawa.
Not to be outdone, North Bay clawed their way back before the end of the period, thanks to Avery Winslow, and Kyle McDonald. 67’s coach Dave Cameron made a goaltending change, and Cranley entered a 3-3 game, heading into the second period.
Anthony Romani notched the first goal of the middle period for North Bay, but again, Ottawa logged a response.
This time, a hard forecheck found the puck on Cam Tolnai’s stick behind the Battalion goal. He made a centring feed to Beck, who fired home his second in as many games, and tied the game at 4-4.
At the 12:59 mark, Boucher made a slick drop pass to Rohrer, who streaked in down the left side, and found Matier with a cross-ice pass for the first postseason goal of his career, giving Ottawa a 5-4 lead.
Kyle Jackson tied the game on the powerplay, though, with just over five minutes to go in the frame, and these two teams entered the third period even at 5-5.
In the third, Pinelli’s shot from the corner bounced in off the stick of Vrbetic, putting the 67’s up 6-5. North Bay would get the last laugh, though, on two goals from Brandon Coe, the game-winner coming with just 2.5 seconds remaining, and Ottawa fell 7-6.
North Bay leads best-of-seven series 2-0
Game Notes:
- Vinzenz Rohrer set a single-game postseason high with three points (3A).
- Tyler Boucher (1G 1A), Jack Matier (1G 1A), and Luca Pinelli (1G 1A) all notched their first postseason multi-point games.
- Jack Beck has scored, and recorded points in four straight games.
- The three-goal first period was Ottawa’s highest-scoring playoff frame since the third period of the 2019 OHL Final, against the Guelph Storm.
Up Next: The 67’s look to earn a pivotal victory in Game 3, inside The Arena at TD Place on Monday night. Puck drop is set for 7:00pm ET.
