Ottawa defeats Battalion
OTTAWA — Luca Pinelli scored two goals and added two assists to power the Ottawa 67’s to a 6-3 Ontario Hockey League victory over the North Bay Battalion in a Family Day matinee Monday.
Brady Stonehouse scored two goals and Henry Mews and Samuel Mayer contributed one apiece before a crowd of 5,117. Braeden Kressler provided three assists, and goaltender Ian Michelone made 23 saves.
Ottawa has a won-lost-extended record of 28-19-6 for 62 points, third in the East Division. The 67’s are 8-2-2 in their last 12 games.
Andrew LeBlanc had one goal and one assist and Ihnat Pazii and Dalyn Wakely also scored for the Battalion, which appeared to run out of gas in the final period. Goaltender Mike McIvor stopped 33 of 37 shots before Ottawa collected two empty-net goals.
North Bay, 28-18-8 for 64 points, second in the Central Division, played the first of four straight road games. The Battalion is 10-4-2 in its last 16 games.
The Troops were without Jacob Therrien and Owen Van Steensel. Therrien was suspended indefinitely after receiving a major for checking from behind and a game misconduct in the first period of a 5-3 home-ice loss Sunday to the Saginaw Spirit, which scored three goals during the five-minute man advantage. Van Steensel suffered a foot injury blocking a shot.
Mews and Stonehouse scored 59 seconds apart early in the third period to lift the 67’s to a 4-2 lead after the teams battled to a 2-2 tie through 40 minutes. Defenceman Mews scooped home his 10th goal of the season at 1:38 after pinching deep on the left side, and Stonehouse scored on a wraparound.
LeBlanc replied with his own wraparound, a clockwise effort, at 4:29. The puck exited the side of the tilted net, and referee Sean Reid, who made no call on the ice, went to video review, confirming LeBlanc’s 13th goal, his fourth in 16 games since a Jan. 6 trade from the Sarnia Sting.
Matthew Mayich went off for hooking Sandis Vilmanis at 17:13, giving the Battalion the man advantage in seeking the equalizer, but Ottawa killed the penalty even as the Troops skated six against four late in the power play.
Defenceman Mayer scored a shorthanded goal into the empty net at 19:12, and Stonehouse put his 16th goal into the vacant cage at 19:42.
Pazii opened the scoring with his ninth goal on a solo break down the left wing at 2:26 of the first period, and Pinelli answered off a left-wing faceoff win by Kressler at 15:31.
Wakely, behind the goal line on the right side, fired the puck toward the goalmouth, having it deflect into the net off the left pad of the meandering Michelone at 1:26 of the second period. LeBlanc and Anthony Romani assisted on Wakely’s 28th goal.
Pinelli netted his team-leading 40th goal at 14:16 off another left-wing faceoff.
The Battalion opens a three-game road trip when it visits Saginaw at 7:05 p.m. Friday. The game can be seen live in North Bay on YourTV Channels 12 and 700.
BATTALION BULLETS: The teams completed their season series, with each going 3-3-0. The 67’s won the first two meetings, 4-2 at North Bay on Oct. 12 and 6-5 at home Dec. 3 before the Troops prevailed 5-3 at home Dec. 28, 5-2 at Ottawa on Jan. 5 and 3-2 at Memorial Gardens last Friday night … The Battalion went 0-for-2 on the power play. Ottawa did not have a man-advantage situation … Wakely led the Troops with four shots on goal, while Romani and Tnias Mathurin had three each. Pinelli and Kressler had six apiece for Ottawa … The 67’s won 38 faceoffs against 18 for the Battalion … Opening lines featured Wakely centring left winger LeBlanc and right winger Romani, Liam Arnsby centring left winger Justin Ertel and right winger Vilmanis and Ethan Procyszyn pivoting left winger Pazii and right winger Brice Cooke. Nolan Laird centred left winger Stef Forgione and right winger Lirim Amidovski … Defence pairings saw Wyatt Kennedy with Ty Nelson, Mathurin with Paul Christopoulos and Bronson Ride with Jacob LeBlanc … Apart from Therrien and Van Steensel, the Battalion was without Brayden Turley and Trevor McDowell … Forgione had sat out 16 games since playing Jan. 5 at Ottawa … Among the missing for Ottawa were Tuomas Uronen and Collin MacKenzie, with Matthew Saari backing up Michelone … Pinelli has an eight-game points streak in which he has 10 goals and six assists for 16 points … Danny Emerson was the other referee.
