McCoy scores OT winner
NORTH BAY, Ont. — Donovan McCoy scored at 3:06 of overtime to lift the Peterborough Petes to a 6-5 victory over the North Bay Battalion in a wild and heated Ontario Hockey League game Thursday night.
Sam McCue had two goals and Jonathan Melee and Owen Beck each provided one goal and one assist, while Brody Partridge also scored for Peterborough. Braydon McCallum had three assists, and goaltender Liam Sztuska contributed 27 saves.
Peterborough moved its won-lost-extended record to 10-3-4 for 24 points atop the East Division and Eastern Conference.
Anthony Romani scored three goals and Ty Nelson had one goal and two assists for North Bay, which got its other goal from Ethan Procyszyn. Goaltender Dom DiVincentiis, seeing his first action since suffering an injury Oct. 29, made 32 saves before a crowd of 2,357.
Nelson, who eclipsed Dylan Blujus in career assists, now holds franchise records for a defenceman of 41 goals, 104 assists and 145 points, ranking 23rd on the club’s all-time list, two points ahead of Luch Aquino and Mitchell Russell.
The Battalion is 8-6-5 for 21 points, tied with the Sudbury Wolves for second place in the Central Division.
McCoy took a pass from McCallum and drove to the net past Nelson to flip the puck behind DiVincentiis. It was defenceman McCoy’s second goal of the season.
Procyszyn broke a 4-4 tie at 8:07 of the third period, hoisting the puck through the short side on a drive to the left of the crease, and McCue tied it at 11:22, scoring through traffic from the right circle.
Peterborough took a 4-2 lead with two early second-period goals, by McCue on the power play at 1:05 when he knocked home a rebound at the left post and by rookie Partridge at 2:47, when he tipped a Cam Gauvreau right-point shot and had it survive a lengthy video review for a possible high stick. It was Partridge’s first OHL goal.
The Battalion went on an extended two-man advantage enabled by Partridge’s major and game misconduct for a check for behind on Alex Cajkovich at 5:37. Melee followed for checking from behind at 7:28 and Konnor Smith for roughing at 7:49 before offsetting minors to Beck, McCoy and the Troops’ Justin Ertel at 8:58.
Nelson snapped the puck past Sztuska with the two-man skating edge at 9:38, and Romani tied it with his team-leading 14th goal at 10:14 on the power play. It marked his second three-goal game of the season.
The teams split four first-period goals, with Romani striking at 3:04 when he slipped to the slot and converted a pass from Dalyn Wakely deep on the left wing.
Melee replied on the power play 22 seconds later, connecting from the top of the left circle on assists by Jax Dubois and Samuel Mayer, and Beck scored his team-leading eighth goal at 6:05, snapping the puck home off a rush. McCallum and Mayer assisted.
Romani tied it with the man advantage at 17:27 on assists by Nelson and Wakely after the Troops applied sustained pressure.
The Battalion visits the Soo Greyhounds at 7:07 p.m. Friday. The game can be seen live in North Bay on YourTV Channels 12 and 700.
BATTALION BULLETS: Special Olympics Night saw tables in the concourse staffed to provide information on the group’s programs. A bucket pass during the game helped raise more than $4,680. The ceremonial faceoff featured North Bay police chief Scott Tod and athletes Jahmar Buttigieg, from floor hockey, track and soccer, and Jackelyn Osbourn, from soccer and snowshoeing … It was the first of four meetings, with the next encounter set for Dec. 2 at Peterborough … DiVincentiis last played in a 5-4 win over visiting Sudbury, when he suffered an ankle sprain. Charlie Robertson backed him up in the return … Nelson has a seven-game points streak during which he has five goals and as many assists for 10 points … The Battalion went 3-for-6 on the power play. Peterborough was 2-for-3 … Opening lines included Liam Arnsby centring left winger Owen Van Steensel and right winger Jacob Therrien, Wakely between left winger Ertel and right winger Romani and Procyszyn centring left winger Ihnat Pazii and right winger Brice Cooke. Dylan Richter centred left winger Carter Kostuch and right winger Lirim Amidovski … Defence pairs had Cajkovic with Nelson, Brayden Turley with Paul Christopoulos and Tyson Rismond with Wyatt Kennedy … The Battalion was without Trevor McDowell, Nolan Laird, Zach Wilson, Pasquale Zito, Stef Forgione, Mike McIvor and Tnias Mathurin, who was sick … Brendan Kane and Andrew Willmetts were the referees.
