Troops conquer Kingston
KINGSTON, Ont. — Kaden Pitre and Ethan Procyszyn each scored for a second straight game and goaltender Jack Lisson made 22 saves to lead the North Bay Battalion to a 4-1 Ontario Hockey League victory Friday night over the Kingston Frontenacs.
Lirim Amidovski and Aaron Enright also provided a goal apiece as the Battalion, which downed the Peterborough Petes 3-1 Thursday night, played the middle game of a three-game road trip before 3,772 at Slush Puppie Place.
Lisson, whose saves included a penalty-shot stop, also contributed an assist.
Pitre, a first-round pick, 18th overall, in the 2022 OHL Priority Selection who was acquired a week earlier from the Flint Firebirds, has two goals and two assists for four points in his first two games with North Bay.
The Battalion, which again dressed 11 forwards and seven defencemen, improved its won-lost-extended record to 14-10-1 for 29 points, second in the Central Division. The Troops are 6-1-1 in their last eight games.
The Battalion hadn’t defeated the Frontenacs since the 2023-24 campaign, having been swept last season, including 9-0 and 5-1 verdicts at Kingston.
Andrew Kuzma scored for the Frontenacs, while goaltender Gavin Betts allowed three goals on 35 shots.
Kingston is 10-11-4 for 24 points, fourth in the East Division. The Frontenacs have lost their last four games, going 0-2-2 since a 5-2 home-ice win Nov. 16 over the Sarnia Sting.
Pitre opened the scoring at 5:53 of the second period, with the lone assist credited to Lisson. Pitre stepped to the middle and snapped the puck home from the right hash marks for his seventh goal of the season.
Ryder Carey and Kingston’s Nolan Buttar scrapped 45 seconds later, exchanging a flurry of punches before Carey got the takedown.
Penalty killer Procyszyn caused Betts trouble at the crease with the rebound of a screened Pitre shot after Parker Vaughan went off for hooking at 7:11, and Lisson got the left pad on a Tomas Pobezal threat later in the power play.
Rookie Nolan Snyder was awarded the penalty shot at 13:50 after being fouled on a breakaway attempt, but Lisson produced the stop.
Procyszyn scored what proved to be the winner at 4:10 of the third period, converting a pass from behind the net from Jonathan Kapageridis. It was the Battalion captain’s fifth goal.
Kuzma gave Kingston life with a power-play tally from the right point at 16:35, one-timing a cross-zone pass from Vann Williamson. Tyler Hopkins had the other assist on Kuzma’s ninth goal.
Amidovski restored North Bay’s two-goal lead with a man-advantage score at 18:36, snapping the puck from the right circle off a rush. Evgeny Dubrovtsev and Bronson Ride assisted on Amidovski’s team-leading ninth goal.
With Betts on the bench for a sixth skater, defenceman Enright wired the puck into the vacant net from his own zone at 19:41. Shamar Moses assisted.
The goaltenders dueled to a scoreless tie in the first period, in which Kingston had an 11-10 edge in shots. Lisson foiled Hopkins cutting across the crease in the sixth minute and dove to deny him in alone again in the 14th. Lisson poked the puck from an open Jacob Battaglia on the power play in the closing seconds.
Kent Greer, set up by Nolan Laird, fired wide right of Betts’s net in the 10th minute, and the goaltender sprawled to rob Laird at the right side in the 15th.
The Battalion completes the trip against the Ottawa 67’s at 3 p.m. Sunday. The game can be seen live in North Bay on YourTV Channels 12 and 700.
BATTALION BULLETS: It was the second of four meetings, after the Frontenacs prevailed 2-1 on Sept. 28 at Boart Longyear Memorial Gardens. The next encounter is scheduled Feb. 20 at Kingston … The Troops spent Thursday night at Peterborough and headed to Ottawa after the game in the Limestone City … The Battalion went 1-for-1 on the power play. Kingston was 1-for-4 … Opening line combinations featured Pitre centring left winger Laird and right winger Amidovski, Dubrovtsev skating between left winger Jax Pereira and right winger Carey and Cam Warren pivoting left winger Moses and right winger Vaughan. Centre Procyszyn and right winger Nick Wellenreiter had rotating linemates … Defence pairings were Ride with Brandt Harper, Enright with Greer and Kapageridis with Adrian Manzo. Carter Kunopaski also manned the blue line … The Battalion again was without Alexander Karmanov, Declan Gallivan, Ryder Cali and Arseny Pronin … Cali, in Grade 12 at Chippewa Secondary School where he has an 86-percent average in three university-level courses, has been named the Central Division’s academic player of the month for November … Among the missing for Kingston was Maleek McGowan … Hopkins has a six-game points streak in which he has three goals and six assists for nine points … Kingston selected Andre Mondoux, a North Bay native who was in the starting lineup, in the 11th round in 2023 from the Toronto Titans U16s … Brendan Kane and James Kraft were the referees.
