Battalion downs Colts 7-4
BARRIE, Ont. — Evgeny Dubrovtsev scored two goals to lead the North Bay Battalion to a 7-4 victory Saturday night over the Barrie Colts, giving the Troops a second straight Ontario Hockey League road win.
Parker Vaughan had one goal and two assists and Arseny Pronin one goal and one assist for North Bay, which got its other goals from Ryder Carey, Jax Pereira and Shamar Moses, into an empty net. Cam Warren contributed three assists.
Goaltender Cole Vreugdenhil provided 36 saves before 3,456 at the Sadlon Arena who saw the Battalion, which played a third game in three nights, improve its won-lost-extended record to 6-8-0 for 12 points, third in the Central Division.
North Bay split a home-and-home series with the Sudbury Wolves, with each team winning on the other’s ice, the Wolves prevailing 4-3 Thursday night and the Battalion 5-3 Friday night. The Troops now are 2-6-0 away from home.
Eamon Edgar and Luca Testa each had one goal and one assist for Barrie, and Sebastian Mogull and Ben Lombardi added a goal apiece. Starting goaltender Hagan Bach allowed four goals on 24 shots before being relieved by Matvei Nikonovich, who stopped nine of 11 shots.
Barrie, which defeated the visiting Owen Sound Attack 4-3 in overtime Thursday night in its previous game, is 2-10-1 for five points, fifth in the Central Division, one point behind the Brampton Steelheads, who downed the host Brantford Bulldogs 4-2.
North Bay trailed 2-1 after 20 minutes but erupted for three straight goals in the second period, sparked by Carey at 2:48. He took a long lead pass from Nolan Laird at the blue line and snapped the puck home off the resulting breakaway for his fifth goal of the season. Oskar Konobelj had the other assist.
Pereira’s second goal on a screened shot from the left circle followed at 5:14, assisted by Pronin and Alexander Karmanov, and Dubrovtsev chased Bach when he tucked a Vaughan pass inside the right post at 7:11 as both players worked behind the goal line. Warren also received an assist.
Lombardi replied at 15:09, but Vaughan gave the Troops a 5-3 lead with his fourth goal at 2:48 of the third period, cashing the rebound of a Carter Kunopaski shot from high on the left wing. Warren also assisted.
Dubrovtsev connected for his team-leading 11th goal from between the circles at 14:12 before Testa countered on the power play at 17:31 and Moses escorted the puck to the vacant net at 19:23 for his sixth goal.
Pronin was credited with the first goal, his sixth, at 11:44 of the opening period when he fired the puck into the Barrie zone and three Colts touched it before it went off the skate of defender Maxim Shirochenkov into the net.
Edgar tied it on the power play at 16:41, taking a cross-ice pass from William Schneid and netting his fourth goal from the inner edge of the left circle. Mogull struck 38 seconds later, driving up the slot to take a pass from Dylan Tsherna and beat Vreugdenhil from close range.
The Battalion plays host to the London Knights at 7 p.m. Thursday on Hallowe’en Night, presented by Rug-A-Roo.
BATTALION BULLETS: It was the teams’ second of six meetings, after the host Battalion defeated Barrie 2-1 in the season opener for both clubs Sept. 18. The teams next meet Jan. 16 at Barrie … Rene Van Bommel tangled with Barrie’s Luc Gauvreau in the first period, with the combatants trading punches before each received a fighting major … A second fight saw Konobelj and Carter Lowe scrap in the final frame, with Konobelj drawing an instigating minor and misconduct in addition to his share of the fighting majors … Vaughan and Dubrovtsev led the Battalion with six shots on goal each. Edgar paced the Colts with seven … Pronin has a seven-game points streak in which he has six goals and three assists for nine points … Warren has a seven-game points streak during which he has two goals and seven assists for nine points … The Battalion went 0-for-2 on the power play. Barrie was 2-for-6 … Opening lines included Dubrovtsev centring left winger Warren and right winger Vaughan, Pereira pivoting left winger Pronin and right winger Moses and Laird centring left winger George Lovell and right winger Carey. Van Bommel centred left winger Lincoln Edwards and right winger Kam Hodgson … Defence pairings had Aaron Enright with Hayden Barch, Jean-Samuel Daigneault with Kunopaski and Karmanov with Konobelj … Mike McIvor backed up Vreugdenhil … The Battalion was without Kent Greer, Max Crete, Austin Brekelmans, Easton Poe and Nikolas Rossetto.
