Spitfires beat Battalion in overtime
WINDSOR, Ont. — Jalen Chatfield scored at 1:01 of overtime to give the Windsor Spitfires a 5-4 victory over the North Bay Battalion in Ontario Hockey League action Saturday night.
Jeremiah Addison and Aaron Luchuk each scored two goals and Julius Nattinen had three assists for Windsor, which moved its won-lost-extended record to 10-4-0 for 20 points and jumped past the Sarnia Sting and Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds into first place in the West Division. Goaltender Mario Culina made 25 saves.
Brett McKenzie had one goal and one assist for the Battalion, which also got goals from Steve Harland, Brett Hargrave and Daniil Vertiy. Rookie goaltender Mat Woroniuk faced 28 shots in his third start as the Troops opened a two-game road trip before a crowd of 4,944 at the WFCU Centre.
North Bay, which went to overtime for a third consecutive game, is 7-6-1 for 15 points, second in the Central Division.
In overtime, Nattinen wheeled behind the net and sent the puck in front to defenceman Chatfield, who dashed to the deep slot to slide the disc between the pads of a sprawling Woroniuk.
The Battalion trailed 3-2 after two periods, but Vertiy tied it at 2:40 of the third, finishing a two-on-one rush with Zach Shankar by ripping the puck from the right-wing circle past Culina’s glove. Shankar and Justin Brazeau assisted on the second goal of the season for Vertiy, a former member of the Spitfires.
Luchuk put Windsor back in front at 5:34, capitalizing on an Adam Thilander turnover and beating Woroniuk high to the stick side from the right wing.
Penalty killer McKenzie struck at 12:10, snapping the puck over Culina’s glove from the right circle. The unassisted goal was McKenzie’s ninth, tied with Hargrave for the team lead. McKenzie has two of the Battalion’s four shorthanded goals.
The Troops had the best chances through the rest of the period, but Culina denied a driving Maurizio Colella, and Cam Dineen hammered the puck off the post with less than three minutes left.
The teams emerged from the first period tied 2-2, with the Spitfires striking for their goals in a span of 20 seconds starting at 10:43 when Addison, at the right post, slammed home a cross-crease pass from Sean Day. Luchuk scored from in close after Woroniuk failed to glove and hold Logan Stanley’s shot from the blue line.
Harland converted from the left lip of the crease at 14:05 after he and McKenzie slipped behind the defence and Colella fed the puck to McKenzie, who relayed it to Harland for his fourth goal. He has scored in the last three games.
Hargrave tied it at 19:47, wheeling around Day, cruising across the goalmouth and sweeping the puck around Culina. Zach Poirier and Mark Shoemaker earned assists.
Addison connected on the power play at 6:38 of the second period when he found himself alone in front of Woroniuk and flipped a Nattinen feed over the goaltender’s right shoulder. Logan Brown drew the other assist.
The Troops, who had three power plays in the frame, built a 14-8 edge in shots, with Harland, McKenzie and Riley Bruce among those testing Culina. Woroniuk repelled solid chances for Stanley and Cristiano DiGiacinto.
The Battalion completes the road trip at Sarnia at 2:05 p.m. Sunday. The game can be seen live on CogecoTV Channel 12 and heard on Country 600 CKAT.
BATTALION BULLETS: The Battalion is 4-2-1 on the road. Windsor is 7-1-0 at home … The Troops left North Bay on Friday and overnighted at Sarnia … The Battalion was without Eric Allair, Max Kislinger and Adam McMaster … Right winger Rhys Forhan, the Battalion’s second-round pick in the OHL Priority Selection in April, dressed for the first time in 10 games after recovering from a concussion … North Bay went 0-for-4 with the man advantage. Windsor, which boasts the OHL’s top-ranked power play at 32.3-percent effectiveness, was 1-for-4 … The Spitfires acquired Day in a trade Oct. 19 from the Mississauga Steelheads, who made the defenceman the fourth overall pick in the 2013 OHL Priority Selection after he received exceptional-player status to play at 15 … Centre Brown leads Windsor scorers with seven goals and 13 assists for 20 points in 12 games … Spitfires right winger Cole Purboo, a ninth-round pick in 2015, is the brother of Battalion goaltending prospect Christian Purboo, an 11th-rounder this year … Mike Baird faced his former Battalion teammates for the first time. Left winger Baird, who was traded June 2 for a 2017 fourth-round pick, has two assists and 10 penalty minutes in 14 games. A second-rounder in 2013, he played three seasons with the Troops, registering 10 goals and 15 assists for 25 points in 132 games while drawing 196 penalty minutes.
