Early jump buries Brampton
BRAMPTON, Ont. — Lirim Amidovski, Parker Vaughan and Sebastien Gervais each scored one goal and added an assist to lead the North Bay Battalion to a 5-1 victory over the Brampton Steelheads in an Ontario Hockey League game Friday night.
Nick Wellenreiter and Kaden Pitre also scored for the Battalion, which led 4-0 after the first period, while goaltender Jack Lisson contributed 20 saves before 2,183 at the CAA Centre.
North Bay improved its won-lost-extended record to 21-16-2 for 44 points, second in the Central Division. The Troops have won their last three games since a 6-2 road loss to the Sudbury Wolves on Jan. 2.
With Mike McIvor injured late in a 4-2 home-ice win Thursday night over the Ottawa 67’s when he scrambled to corral a puck on the goal line after a bounce off the end boards, Cole Vreugdenhil was recalled from the junior A Powassan Voodoos to back up Lisson. McIvor is week-to-week with a lower-body ailment.
Justin Bottineau scored for the Steelheads, who unloaded considerable veteran talent leading up to the noon Friday trade deadline.
Starting goaltender Zach Bowen surrendered four goals on nine shots in the first period before being relieved by Luke Johnson to start the second. Rookie Johnson gave up one goal on 18 shots the rest of the way.
Brampton is 13-21-5 for 31 points, tied for fourth place in the division with Sudbury, which fell 4-2 to the visiting Niagara IceDogs.
Amidovski struck at 4:56 of the first period, taking a pass from Gervais on a rush and driving off the left wing around Mason Roy to register his 11th goal of the season.
Vaughan, who took a back pass from Ethan Procyszyn deep on the right wing that glanced off a defender’s skate, beat Bowen to the far post on the blocker side at 7:32. It was Vaughan’s 10th goal.
The Battalion tallied twice in the final minute of the period. Gervais redirected a left-point shot by Bronson Ride at 19:37, with Brandt Harper drawing the other assist, before Wellenreiter connected from the left circle off a two-on-one rush against Carter Hicks at 19:55, the lone assist going to Vaughan.
Gervais, who earned his first points in two games since a trade Monday from the Saginaw Spirit, has 13 goals on the season, while Wellenreiter’s 13th goal tied Procyszyn for the team lead.
North Bay’s Nolan Laird was assessed a match penalty for spearing Peter Green at 11:33, with Green banished for slashing at the same stoppage, resulting in an eventual three-minute power play for Brampton.
Johnson denied Pitre on a solo break in the second minute of the middle frame, in which the Steelheads held an 8-7 edge in shots, before Bottineau scored on the power play at 2:05 of the third period. William Eggleton ended up in the net behind Lisson, but there was no challenge, as he was deposited there by the Troops.
Lisson was strong against sustained pressure in the middle of the period, and Pitre completed the scoring with the man advantage at 14:52, taking a pass from Amidovski in the right-wing corner and chipping the puck home from the goalmouth. Cam Warren also assisted on the 10th goal for Pitre, his fifth in 11 games since a trade from the Flint Firebirds.
The Battalion returns to action at 7 p.m. Thursday when it plays host to Sudbury on Freelandt Caldwell Reilly Night.
BATTALION BULLETS: It was the third of six meetings. Host Brampton won 2-1 on Oct. 25, and the Battalion prevailed 4-3 in overtime at home Dec. 11. The next game is Feb. 12 at North Bay … The Battalion went 1-for-1 on the power play. Brampton was 1-for-3 … Opening lines featured Procyszyn centring left winger Wellenreiter and right winger Vaughan, Pitre pivoting left winger Gervais and right winger Amidovski and Evgeny Dubrovtsev centring left winger Shamar Moses and right winger Ryder Carey. Ryder Cali centred left winger Laird and right winger Warren … Defence pairs saw Ride with Harper, Aaron Enright with Hayden Barch and Jonathan Kapageridis with Adrian Manzo … Apart from McIvor, the Battalion was without Kent Greer, Alexander Karmanov, Carter Kunopaski and Arseny Pronin … Jax Pereira has been assigned to Powassan and Declan Gallivan to the junior A Soo Thunderbirds … Brampton was busy before the trade deadline, acquiring Jaxon Williams and Nathan Amidovski from Ottawa in separate transactions, getting Sam Black from the Barrie Colts while sending them Mason Zebeski and Parker von Richter in two trades, acquiring Roy from the Owen Sound Attack, landing Hicks in sending Jakub Fibigr to the Windsor Spitfires and dealing Joshua Avery to the Guelph Storm. The Steelheads received 12 OHL Priority Selection picks and traded away nine … Scott Ferguson and Pat Myers were the referees.
