Niagara falls to Battalion
ST. CATHARINES, Ont. — Evgeny Dubrovtsev and Ryder Carey scored two goals apiece as the North Bay Battalion skated to a 7-3 victory over the Niagara IceDogs in an Ontario Hockey League game Friday night, giving the Troops a third straight road win.
Carter Kunopaski was credited with one goal and one assist, and Arseny Pronin and Nolan Laird also scored for North Bay. Goaltender Cole Vreugdenhil contributed 18 saves before a crowd of 2,322.
The Battalion improved its won-lost-extended record to 7-8-1 for 15 points, pulling into a tie for second place in the Central Division with the IceDogs, who hold two games in hand. The Troops, who lost 5-4 in overtime Thursday night to the visiting London Knights, are 3-6-0 away from home.
Reyth Smith, Layne Gallacher and Ivan Galiyanov scored for Niagara, while goaltender Vladislav Yermolenko allowed five goals on 29 shots, with Kunopaski and Dubrovtsev both recording empty-netters.
The IceDogs, 7-6-1 overall, suffered their first regulation-time loss on home ice and are 4-1-1 at the Meridian Centre.
Dubrovtsev broke a 2-2 tie at 5:04 of the third period on assists by Shamar Moses and Parker Vaughan, and captain Laird struck on a shorthanded breakaway at 8:09 for his third goal of the season and what proved to be the winner.
With Yermolenko gone for a sixth attacker, defenceman Kunopaski was credited with his first goal when Niagara’s Joey Banas sent the puck the length of the ice into his own net at 17:25.
Galiyanov connected at 18:13 to pull the hosts within 5-3, but Dubrovtsev put his league-leading 14th goal into the empty net at 18:55 before Carey got loose in front of Yermolenko and beat him with a backhander at 19:03 on assists by George Lovell and Oskar Konobelj.
Having trailed 1-0 at the first intermission, North Bay tied it when Pronin scored shorthanded at 7:59 of the middle period. Pronin stripped Wil McFadden of the puck at the Battalion blue line and raced off on a breakaway to beat Yermolenko low to the blocker side. It was Pronin’s eighth goal.
Gallacher connected at 12:14, scoring his fourth goal from the inner edge of the right circle off a rush. Banas and Max Lappan received assists.
Carey tied it at 17:00, taking a stretch pass from Jax Pereira at the blue line and, slipping around Callum Cheynowski, whipping the puck past Yermolenko. Cam Warren had the other assist.
Smith opened the scoring with his team-leading ninth goal on the power play at 13:32 of the first period, taking advantage of the first half of a double minor for high-sticking issued to Kam Hodgson. Smith jabbed the puck home from tight to the right side on assists by Ryerson Edgar and McFadden.
Penalty killer Vaughan had a breakaway as the power play continued, but Yermolenko denied a backhanded attempt.
The Battalion plays host to the Val-d’Or Foreurs of the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League at 2 p.m. Sunday on YMCA Fill the Bus Day, a program seeking donations to send children to summer camp.
BATTALION BULLETS: Trick-Or-Treat with the Troops affords fans the opportunity to get candy and autographs and photos with Battalion players on Saturday. The Hallowe’en event runs from 4 to 6 p.m. in the concourse of Boart Longyear Memorial Gardens by Gate 1 … It was the second of six meetings between the Battalion and Niagara, after the visiting IceDogs won 5-4 on Oct. 18 in a game that saw the Troops score twice in the final minute. The next encounter is Nov. 22 at North Bay … Vaughan led the Battalion with five shots on goal … Warren has a nine-game points streak in which he has three goals and nine assists for 12 points … Pronin has a nine-game points streak during which he has eight goals and three assists for 11 points … The Battalion went 5-6-1 in October … North Bay was 0-for-2 on the power play. Niagara went 1-for-7 … Opening lines included Dubrovtsev centring left winger Warren and right winger Vaughan, Pereira pivoting left winger Pronin and right winger Moses and Hodgson centring left winger Lovell and right winger Carey. Laird centred left winger Rene Van Bommel and right winger Lincoln Edwards … Defence pairs had Konobelj with Hayden Barch, Jean-Samuel Daigneault with Kunopaski and Alexander Karmanov with Easton Poe … The Battalion was without Aaron Enright, Kent Greer, Max Crete, Austin Brekelmans and Nikolas Rossetto … Enright was a late scratch with lower-body soreness … Darcy Burchell and Ryan Harrison were the referees.
