Petes defeat Battalion 4-1
PETERBOROUGH, Ont. — Braydon McCallum scored two goals, including an empty-netter, as the Peterborough Petes downed the North Bay Battalion 4-1 Saturday night, doubling the Petes’ win total for the Ontario Hockey League season.
Gavin Bryant and Aiden Young had a goal apiece, while goaltender Easton Rye provided 42 saves before a crowd of 3,807.
Peterborough, which played its third game in three days, has a won-lost-extended record of 2-16-5 for nine points, fifth in the East Division and last in the league.
The previous victory for the Petes, who lost 4-3 via shootout Friday night to the host Kingston Frontenacs, was a 2-1 road decision Nov. 7 over the Saginaw Spirit. Since then, Peterborough, 1-6-3 at home, had gone 0-5-1 in a six-game losing streak.
Rye is no stranger to the Troops, having served as an emergency backup to Mike McIvor while on loan to the Battalion for three games in the playoffs last spring.
Shamar Moses scored for North Bay, and goaltender Charlie Larocque made 26 saves as the team opened a two-game eastern road trip. The Battalion, which dressed 11 forwards and seven defencemen, is 10-10-2 for 22 points, fourth in the Central Division.
McCallum opened the scoring at 1:53 of the first period, taking a pass at the left lip of the crease for a quick conversion that gave Larocque no chance. Liam Ladds and Caden Taylor assisted.
Bryant connected for his third goal of the season from the right circle off a rush at 7:44, assisted by Martin Matejicek.
The Battalion failed to score on three power plays in the period, the last of them lasting only 39 seconds before being offset by a tripping call against Jacob Therrien.
Seconds after his apparent goal was disallowed because of goaltender interference, Young put the puck back into the net at 14:05 of the middle period, beating Larocque low to the blocker side with a loose puck in the slot. The unassisted marker was Young’s seventh.
Moses struck on the power play at 17:21, darting up the middle and snapping the puck past Rye for a fourth goal. Therrien and Jacob LeBlanc drew assists.
North Bay, seeking to climb back into contention, outshot the hosts 16-6 in the final frame and got the only man advantage of the period from a scrum that saw four players assessed penalties at 15:32.
Peterborough parried the ensuing push and survived Larocque leaving for a sixth skater with two minutes to play before McCallum escorted the puck to the empty net at 18:30 for his second goal on the season.
The Battalion visits Kingston at 4 p.m. Sunday. The game can be seen live in North Bay on YourTV Channels 12 and 700.
BATTALION BULLETS: Contrary to OHL protocol before Jan. 1, the Battalion wore its white sweaters on the road as the Petes donned black-based alternate uniforms … LeBlanc extended a points streak to six games in which he has one goal and 10 assists for 11 points … Owen Van Steensel topped the Troops with six shots on goal. Colin Fitzgerald led Peterborough with six … North Bay went 1-for-5 on the power play. The Petes were 0-for-2 … Opening lines saw Ethan Procyszyn centring left winger Van Steensel and right winger Therrien, Briir Long centring left winger Nolan Laird and right winger Moses and Ryder Carey pivoting left winger Reyth Smith and right winger Lirim Amidovski. Centre Dylan Richter and left winger Natan Teshome had various linemates … Defence pairings had Bronson Ride with Wyatt Kennedy, Zach Wilson with Brayden Turley and Aaron Enright with LeBlanc. Tyson Rismond also saw action after being recalled from the junior A Haliburton County Huskies … The Battalion was without Declan Gallivan, Kent Greer, Ihnat Pazii, Anthony Romani, Stepan Chukharev and Andrew LeBlanc, who left a 4-3 home-ice win Thursday night over the Guelph Storm favouring his right leg … Among the missing for Peterborough was Zach Bowen, with Masen Johnston backing up Rye … On Friday, the Petes traded Chase Lefebvre to the Brampton Steelheads for a conditional 11th-round pick in the 2028 OHL Priority Selection … Danny Emerson and Matt Mannella were the referees.
