Troops win 4-0, tie series
NORTH BAY, Ont. — Goaltender Jack Lisson made 33 saves to backstop the North Bay Battalion to a 4-0 Ontario Hockey League victory Tuesday night over the Peterborough Petes, tying the teams’ best-of-seven Eastern Conference quarterfinal series at 2-2.
Cam Warren and Ryder Cali each had one goal and one assist and Parker Vaughan and Nick Wellenreiter also scored for the Battalion before 2,682 at Boart Longyear Memorial Gardens.
Lisson, who made 26 saves in a 1-0 road win in the opener last Thursday night, marked his 20th birthday by becoming the first Battalion goaltender to record multiple shutouts in a playoff series.
The visiting Petes won the third game 2-1 Sunday as Kieron Walton scored in overtime for a second straight game.
Peterborough goaltender Easton Rye faced 39 shots before the series reverts to Peterborough for Game 5 at 7:05 p.m. Thursday. The sixth game is scheduled Saturday night at North Bay.
“I thought we probably had our best start of the series,” said Battalion coach Ryan Oulahen.
“We talked a lot about our first five minutes, just starting better, and that’s not scoring a goal. It just means implanting our game, getting after it right away. I thought we did a better job of that and really carried it through most of the 60 minutes, so we’re just going to have to continue to get better and better every game here because they’re doing the same.”
The strong start saw the Troops seize a 2-0 first-period lead with goals 1:45 apart.
Warren struck for what proved to be the winner at 9:36. Kent Greer’s shot from the blue line bounced off the end boards into the slot, where Warren ripped the puck past Rye for his second goal of the series. Aaron Enright had the other assist.
Rye made a good save as Ethan Procyszyn drove to the net, but the puck eluded two defenders and skittered to Cali, who swept the disc home at 11:21. The unassisted goal was Cali’s first.
The Battalion forged an 18-11 edge in shots in the frame. Vaughan tested Rye early, and the goaltender stopped Lirim Amidovski as he barreled to the net off the left wing in the eighth minute. The Petes’ best chance came in the sixth minute when Adam Novotny failed to convert into an open net at the right post.
Vaughan made it 3-0 at 2:37 of the middle period. Enright sent the puck to Warren deep on the left side, and he sent a backhanded cross-crease pass to Vaughan, who fired it past a sprawling Rye for his first goal.
The Petes, who outshot the Troops 11-8 in the period, were unable to take advantage of two power plays. Walton forced Lisson to make a good left-pad save in the eighth minute and tested the goaltender again in close in the 18th.
Wellenreiter connected at 7:55 of the final frame. Rye got his chest in front of Hayden Barch’s right-point drive, but the rebound landed at the feet of Wellenreiter, who put a wrister high over the goaltender’s right shoulder. Cali also assisted on Wellenreiter’s first goal.
Lisson fell in his crease to foil Braydon McCallum in the fourth minute of the period. McCallum rang the puck off the right post in the 11th minute, and Lisson slid to his left to kick away a Novotny power-play drive in the 15th.
The game at Peterborough can be seen live in North Bay on YourTV Channels 12 and 700.
BATTALION BULLETS: The Battalion has an all-time won-lost record of 21-23 in the fourth game of playoff series, including 9-14 at home. The Troops are 13-9 since relocation to North Bay for the 2013-14 season … Goaltender Mike McIvor received an automatic two-game suspension after being assessed a match penalty in overtime Sunday. Cole Vreugdenhil, whose season with the junior A Powassan Voodoos has ended, backed up Lisson. Vreugdenhil played six games with the Troops this season, with a won-lost-extended record of 3-2-0 … Cali led the Battalion with eight shots on goal. Walton paced Peterborough with five … The Battalion went 0-for-2 on the power play. Peterborough was 0-for-4 … Opening lines featured Procyszyn centring left winger Cali and right winger Wellenreiter, Kaden Pitre centring left winger Sebastien Gervais and right winger Amidovski and Warren pivoting left winger Nolan Laird and right winger Vaughan. Centre Evgeny Dubrovtsev and right winger Ryder Carey had rotating linemates … Defence pairs were Bronson Ride with Barch, Enright with Greer and Carter Kunopaski with Brandt Harper. Adrian Manzo was a seventh defenceman … In addition to McIvor, the Battalion was without Jonathan Kapageridis, Alexander Karmanov, Arseny Pronin and Shamar Moses … Again among the missing for Peterborough was Matthew Soto, who hasn’t played since the series opener … Andre Grougrou and Aaron Neely were the referees.
