Battalion barrage buries Knights 8-0
LONDON, Ont. – The Brampton Battalion finally tapped the John Labatt Centre on Friday night.
Sam Carrick scored three goals and added one assist and goaltender Matej Machovsky made 32 saves for his first Ontario Hockey League shutout as the Battalion bombed the London Knights 8-0.
It was the first victory for the Troops at London since the Knights moved into their current home during the 2002-03 season. The Battalion’s previous win at London was a 3-2 decision Jan. 25, 2002, at the London Ice House.
Barclay Goodrow scored two goals and Scott Tanski and Michael Santini had one goal and one assist each for the Battalion, which got its other goal from Andreas Tsogkas. The Troops improved their won-lost-extended record to 18-15-5 for 41 points, third in the Central Division.
Rookie Czech import Machovsky, acquired in a Dec. 1 trade with the Guelph Storm, produced a rock-solid performance and is 4-0-1 since joining the Battalion.
London goaltender Michael Houser, making a ninth consecutive start, gave up six goals on 18 shots before being relieved by Igor Bobkov, one of the heroes of Russia’s gold-medal victory at the just-concluded World Junior Championship, who surrendered two goals on 15 shots.
The Knights, who had won five games since a 9-4 home-ice setback Dec. 10 to the Erie Otters, are 18-15-3 for 39 points, fifth in the Midwest Division.
“It’s the kind of game that, if you weren’t here, you never would have believed,” said Battalion coach Stan Butler, whose charges saw a season-high five-game winning streak ended Thursday night in a 6-3 road loss to the Barrie Colts.
“Everything seemed to go well for us tonight, from our goaltending on out. Last night we couldn’t get any bounces. Tonight we got a lot. London was on a five-game winning streak, too. The boys played well and put forth a great effort. I was very happy with how our young guys played.”
The issue was long decided when rookie Tsogkas collected his first OHL goal at 6:28 of the third period, putting the puck past Bobkov from the left edge of the crease off a setup by Domenic Alberga.
Goodrow opened the scoring on the power play at 8:13 of the first period, taking a Tanski feed and firing the puck off the foot of a defender past Houser from the right-wing circle.
Goodrow struck again with his 14th goal of the season at 16:35. He was in the slot to convert the deflection of Dylan Blujus’s left-point shot off a defender.
Carrick, who retreated to corral the puck before it exited the zone at the middle of the blue line, turned to lob a long-range shot that put the Battalion up 3-0 at 17:15.
Tanski scored his 11th goal when he converted the rebound of a Matt MacLeod shot off a two-on-one rush at 5:32 of the second period, and Santini collected his 15th goal on the power play at 9:56, tipping Jordan Auld’s right-point blast for a 5-0 lead.
Carrick chased Houser at 12:29, delaying on a pass to the goalmouth from Philip Lane behind the net before pulling the trigger and being dumped over the goaltender.
Carrick then netted his ninth goal at 18:26, poking Santini’s rebound under Bobkov from the lip of the crease after Santini emerged from behind the net for a backhanded effort.
Machovsky was stellar throughout the game, including against Seth Griffith on a solo break-in at the five-minute mark of the first period.
The Battalion scratched Stephon Thorne. London scratched Michael Moffat, Danny Elser, Troy Donnay, Tommy Hughes, Chris DeSousa, Jake Worrad and Cody Donnay.
The Battalion hosts the Kitchener Rangers at 2 p.m. Sunday.
BATTALION NOTEBOOK: The crowd of 8,975 was the largest to see the Battalion play this season, surpassing the 7,184 who witnessed a 3-1 victory over the host Ottawa 67’s on Oct. 22 … The Battalion had lost eight consecutive games at the John Labatt Centre … The Battalion went 2-for-3 on the power play. London was 0-for-3 … The Troops, who won for the sixth time in seven games, are 9-4-1 since Machovsky and Cody St. Jacques were acquired in a two-day span that overhauled the team’s goaltending … The Battalion is 8-10-2 on the road. London is 12-9-2 at home … A pregame ceremony paid tribute to Bobkov, the pretournament No. 1 who came on in relief to pick up the win for Russia by virtue of Canada’s cataclysmic collapse in the third period of the championship game of the world junior tournament at Buffalo on Wednesday night. Canada led 3-0 through 40 minutes before a disgraceful meltdown resulted in a 5-3 loss. Some booing greeted a video board display of celebrating Russians before cleverer fans realized that a Knights favourite was about to be honoured … Also recognized were Battalion defenceman Marcus McIvor and London left winger Andreas Athanasiou, teammates on the Ontario team that won the World Under-17 Challenge at Winnipeg this week … Alex O’Neil fought London’s Victor Terreri at 2:12 of the opening period, earning the decision on the basis of punches thrown and landed … Captain Thorne was sidelined with a groin injury suffered at Barrie … DeSousa missed a third game after taking a check to the head in a 3-2 victory Dec. 29 at Guelph. Worrad has been out since suffering a knee injury in an exhibition game Sept. 10 against the visiting Plymouth Whalers … The Battalion hosts London on Jan. 30.
