Bulldogs win again at home
BRANTFORD, Ont. — Marek Vanacker scored two goals to power the Brantford Bulldogs to a 4-1 Ontario Hockey League victory over the North Bay Battalion on Friday night and a 2-0 lead in the clubs’ best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal series.
Adam Jiricek had one goal and one assist, and Caleb Malhotra also scored for first-place Brantford. Goaltender Ryerson Leenders faced 21 shots before 3,207 at the TD Civic Centre.
Adrian Manzo scored for the fifth-place Battalion, which got 25 saves from goaltender Jack Lisson.
The series now shifts to North Bay for the third and fourth games at Boart Longyear Memorial Gardens at 2 p.m. Sunday and Tuesday night.
“I do feel like we made some really good strides today,” said Battalion coach Ryan Oulahen. “There’s parts of our game where we did a lot more good than we did bad tonight, and this is a tough building to play in.
“Give Brantford credit. They just show you that, on little mistakes, they can turn something out of nothing like real quick. So we’ll learn from it, and the beauty is we’re headed back home for Sunday afternoon in North Bay, where I know we’ll be a refreshed and energized group.”
The Battalion, shaking off an 8-1 loss in the opener Wednesday night, competed on even terms in the first period, but the strong start went for naught when Malhotra struck at 19:54, seizing a Bronson Ride turnover and moving in on Lisson to flick a backhander behind the goaltender. The goal was Malhotra’s league-leading eighth of the playoffs.
Brantford had an 8-4 edge in shots in the frame. Malhotra tested Lisson twice early, and Charlie Paquette hammered the puck off Lisson’s pad in the fourth minute. Lisson snared a Jiricek shot from the high slot in the seventh. The Battalion’s best chance came in the 13th minute when a Shamar Moses drive from the high slot glanced off Leenders and skittered across the crease.
The Bulldogs netted what proved to be the winner at 1:16 of the second period. Jiricek’s shot from the blue line hit Jake O’Brien and landed at the lip of the crease, where Vanacker slid it home.
Vanacker struck again at 9:37 for his fifth goal when he converted a shot-pass from Owen Protz while stationed at the right post. Jett Luchanko drew the other assist.
Jiricek hammered the puck past Lisson’s glove from the high slot to make it 4-0 at 12:43. Paquette and O’Brien were credited with assists on defenceman Jiricek’s fourth goal.
Hard work by Moses along the end boards led to the North Bay goal as he fed the puck back to Manzo, who beat Leenders from the right point at 16:51. It was defenceman Manzo’s first goal.
The Troops, who outshot the hosts 10-9 in the period, had several solid chances. Leenders made two stops on Nick Wellenreiter, sprawled to deny Lirim Amidovski in the 14th minute and made back-to-back saves against Kent Greer and Cam Warren during a late-period power play. Amidovski rang the rubber off the left post in the 10th minute.
The scoreless final frame saw Brantford outshoot the Troops 12-7. The Battalion’s best chance came in the 11th minute when Leenders foiled Amidovski as he raced to the net off the right wing. Lisson made two good stops on Adam Benak and a terrific glove save on a close-in shot by O’Brien in the 14th minute.
BATTALION BULLETS: The Battalion has an all-time won-lost record of 18-27 in the second game of playoff series, including 4-13 on the road. The Troops are 10-13 since relocation to North Bay for the 2013-14 season … Malhotra leads Brantford in playoff points with 13, including five assists, in six games … Amidovski, Manzo and Wellenreiter led the Battalion with three shots on goal each. Jiricek and Malhotra paced the Bulldogs with five apiece … Each team went 0-for-1 on the power play … Opening line combinations featured Ethan Procyszyn centring left winger Wellenreiter and right winger Parker Vaughan, Ryder Cali centring left winger Sebastien Gervais and right winger Amidovski and Warren skating between left winger Moses and right winger Ryder Carey. Centre Evgeny Dubrovtsev and left winger Arseny Pronin had various linemates … Defence pairings saw Ride with Hayden Barch, Aaron Enright with Greer and Carter Kunopaski with Brandt Harper. Manzo was a seventh rearguard … The Battalion was without Jonathan Kapageridis, Alexander Karmanov, Kaden Pitre and Nolan Laird, who was sick … Barch returned to action after losing two games to an upper-body injury suffered in Game 5 of a first-round series victory over the Peterborough Petes … Gervais turns 21 on Saturday … Among the scratches for Brantford were Jeremy Freeman, Nikolas Rosetto, Philip Govedaris and Vladimir Dravecky … The Bulldogs’ Luca Testa marked his 20th birthday, while Benak turned 19.
