Barrie blunts Battalion offensive
BARRIE, Ont. – Alex Hutchings and Taylor Carnevale scored first-period goals to start the Barrie Colts to a 4-2 victory over the Brampton Battalion in Ontario Hockey League action Thursday night.
Dalton Prout and Bryan Cameron, into an empty net, also scored for Barrie. Goaltender Peter Di Salvo produced 13 saves as the Colts moved their won-lost-extended record to 32-5-1 for 65 points atop the Central Division and Eastern Conference.
Barrie won a second consecutive game after having a club-record 22-game winning streak ended Dec. 31. The Colts downed the visiting Peterborough Petes 6-3 last Saturday night.
Ian Watters and Philip Lane scored for the Battalion, and goaltender Patrick Killeen made 31 saves before a crowd of 3,212. The Troops, whose 15 shots were a season low, are 14-17-9 for 37 points, third in the division.
Watters cut the Battalion’s deficit to 2-1 on the power play at 10:05 of the third period on a pass from Lane, but defenceman Prout replied with what proved to be the winner at 12:38, scoring on a lob shot from the right point 21 seconds after Killeen denied Cameron on a penalty shot.
Lane scored unassisted at 15:11, taking the puck off the left-wing boards and moving to the middle to wire his 12th goal of the season past Di Salvo. With Killeen on the bench for a sixth attacker, Cameron put his team-leading 27th goal into the vacant net at 19:44.
The teams produced a fast-paced and evenly played opening period before the Colts struck for two late goals 57 seconds apart.
Hutchings scored from the right-wing circle at 16:19 after taking a pass from Colin Behenna on a two-on-one rush. It was Hutchings’s 26th goal.
Carnevale connected with the man advantage as Sean Jones served a delay-of-game penalty to Killeen. Darren Archibald fanned on a shot in the goalmouth, but the puck slid to Carnevale, who put it home at the left post.
Lone referee Joel Washkurak waved off a would-be goal by Barrie’s Mitch Bennett at 2:16, handing him a goaltender interference penalty for barreling into Killeen.
The Battalion, outshot 11-7 in the period, tested Di Salvo in the 11th minute when Stephon Thorne fed a pass from behind the goal line to Scott Tanski, who drilled the puck from close range.
Killeen produced a huge right-pad save against the driving Archibald with the Battalion’s Barclay Goodrow off for a weak tripping call assessed at 17:51 of the scoreless second period, in which the Troops matched a season low with two shots.
The Battalion’s concentration might be questioned, given that right winger Matt MacLeod had to race from the bench for a faceoff to Killeen’s right in the 15th minute. MacLeod, who had barely crossed the blue line, was far offside when the puck was dropped.
Battalion scratches were Ben Alavie, Craig Moore and Cody Hodgson. Barrie scratched Alexander Burmistrov, Simon Gronvaldt, Stefan Della Rovere and Zach Hall.
The Battalion visits the Sudbury Wolves at 7:30 p.m. Friday. The game can be seen live in Brampton on Rogers Cable 10 and in Caledon and Orangeville on Rogers Cable 63.
BATTALION NOTEBOOK: Each team went 1-for-4 on the power play … The Battalion is 7-8-3 on the road … Barrie, 18-1-1 at home, had a 10-game home winning streak snapped in a 6-4 New Year’s Eve loss to the Owen Sound Attack. A 3-1 win Oct. 24 over the Battalion started both the home-ice streak and the run of 22 wins, which was halted by the Attack. That streak was three games shy of the OHL record, set by the Kitchener Rangers in 1983-84 … Cameron took the penalty shot after being hauled down by Thorne … Speculation suggests Barrie will acquire defenceman Alex Pietrangelo from the Niagara IceDogs in pursuit of a long playoff run. Pietrangelo, returned to Niagara by the National Hockey League’s St. Louis Blues, played for Canada in the World Junior Championship at Saskatoon. The OHL trade deadline is noon Monday … Assistant coach Jamie Allison of the Battalion missed a second straight game for personal reasons … Battalion centre Thomas Stajan marked his 21st birthday … Goodrow returned after missing three games while with the Ontario team at the World Under-17 Challenge, and Lane was back after losing one game to flu … Goodrow and Ontario teammate Ryan Strome of the Colts conducted the ceremonial faceoff … Burmistrov and Della Rovere sat out after playing for Russia and Canada respectively at the World Junior Championship … Rogers Community Television announced Thursday that four games between the Battalion and the Mississauga St. Michael’s Majors will be shown on a delayed basis with commentary in Punjabi. The first game, the Majors’ 3-2 overtime win at home Dec. 30, is to be shown at 10 p.m. Friday and 5 p.m. Saturday.
