Burns blisters Barrie in overtime
BRAMPTON, Ont. – Brent Burns jammed home the winning goal at 1:06 of overtime as the Battalion defeated the Barrie Colts 4-3 Friday night and opened a four-point lead atop the Ontario Hockey League’s Central Division.
Chris Rowan brought the puck out of the Battalion zone and fed it along the left-wing boards to Burns, who made a strong move to the net. Fighting off a Colts defender, Burns fired a shot at Barrie goaltender Paulo Colaiacovo and banged home the rebound for his 14th goal of the season.
“It feels so good to get that goal,” said Burns, a Barrie native. “It was a great pass from Rowan, and I took a shot on the goalie and he fumbled it. I went to the net hard and put in the rebound. There wasn’t much to it.”
The victory improved the Battalion’s record to 32-26-6, including three overtime losses, for 73 points, four more than the second-place Toronto St. Michael’s Majors, who were 4-3 road losers to the Mississauga IceDogs. Third-place Barrie is 27-33-4, including a league-high nine overtime losses, for 67 points.
Scott Rozendal had a goal and an assist for the Battalion, which won in overtime for the second consecutive game after a 5-4 victory Thursday night at Toronto. Adam Henrich and Tyler Harrison also scored. Rowan and Kevin Young each earned two assists.
The Colts had a 40-28 edge in shots on goal, including 6-2 in overtime, before a Brampton Centre crowd of 2,746.
“We got a big effort by Burns on the winning goal,” said head coach Stan Butler. “Up until that time, we’d been dominated in overtime, and thankfully we capitalized. The Barrie Colts are a very well-coached team that works extremely hard. They compete as hard as any team in the league.”
“You could say we were opportunists in overtime,” said Young, who assisted on the winner. “I think we were a little flat at the start of overtime, almost as if we would settle for a tie, but Burns is the most energetic kid I’ve seen. He just has a lot more speed than anyone else out there. Barrie is chasing us too and they aren’t out of the race. We knew we needed two points to make it harder for teams to catch us.”
Ryan Hamilton, Eric Himelfarb and Dan Speer scored for the Colts.
The Troops got on the board first when Henrich hammered a shot from the right boards past Colaiacovo at 10:58 of the first period.
Hamilton tied it 1-1 at 5:14 of the second when he stuffed a wraparound past Battalion goaltender Brad Topping for his third goal.
The Troops regained the lead at 1:51 of the third period when Rozendal notched his first goal since Jan. 26. Barrie’s Himelfarb was off for slashing when Rozendal chipped a pass from Wojtek Wolski past Colaiacovo for his 18th goal.
“There have been a lot of games when I could have scored and had lots of chances, and you lose some confidence,” said Rozendal. “But I kept going out there and working, and it felt good to get that off my back. It was a great pass by Wolski. All I had to do was go to the net, and I have to do that to be effective.”
Himelfarb tied the game 2-2 at 6:49 when his shot from the right point beat Topping low to the stick side.
Harrison gave the Battalion its third lead at 10:52, swatting a Burns pass past Colaiacovo, before Speer netted the 3-3 goal at 14:14 with a wrist shot from the slot.
“I think all the teams in our division are in playoff mode,” said Young, “and there isn’t going to be much room out there. If you get a goal, the other team will dig down and try and counter.”
Mike Looby, Ryan Bowness, Ryan Oulahen and Kamil Kreps did not dress for the Battalion.
Michael Ouzas, Ryan Sharp and Justin DaCosta were scratched for Barrie.
The Troops are back in action Sunday when they host Mississauga at 2 p.m. The IceDogs are battling the Kingston Frontenacs for the final Eastern Conference playoff spot.
BATTALION NOTEBOOK: The Battalion has won three games in a row and five of its last six The Troops have a record of 5-3-6 in 14 overtime games this season. The team is tied with the Ottawa 67’s and Kitchener Rangers for the league lead in overtime wins. Seven of the Battalion’s last 14 games have gone to an extra period, with the Troops owning a 4-1-2 record in those contests The Battalion is one win short of the club record for most victories in a season. The team won 33 games in 2000-01 Barrie took the season series 3-2-1 Henrich’s goal was his 30th of the season, making him the first Brampton player to reach that milestone this season. He joined Raffi Torres as the only Battalion players to score at least 30 goals in successive campaigns. Henrich led the club with 33 goals a year ago The Battalion, one-for-five on the power play against Barrie, has three power-play goals in 41 chances dating to Feb. 9. “We’re still struggling with it,” said captain Jay McClement. “We had some chances to bury the Colts tonight with our power play and we couldn’t do it. We’re just trying to get the pucks to the net and get some sticks on them.” After an eight-game point drought, Rowan has a goal and seven assists for eight points in his last seven games Burns has six goals and 12 points in his last 10 games.
