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OHL North Bay Battalion

IceDogs Repel Troops' Rally

March 1, 2019 - Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
North Bay Battalion News Release


NORTH BAY, Ont. - Philip Tomasino's goal at 15:58 of the third period broke a tie and proved the winner as the Niagara IceDogs extended a winning streak to five games with a 6-4 Ontario Hockey League victory Friday night over the North Bay Battalion.

Kirill Maksimov scored two goals, Akil Thomas had one goal and two assists and Jack Studnicka and Matthew Philip, with an empty-netter, also scored for Niagara, which has a won-lost-extended record of 38-15-7 for 83 points, first in the Central Division and second in the Eastern Conference. Goaltender Stephen Dhillon made 23 saves.

Matthew Struthers and Justin Brazeau each had one goal and one assist for North Bay, which also got goals from Brad Chenier and Luke Moncada. The Battalion, which lost a third straight game, is 26-30-5 for 57 points, fourth in the division and eighth in the conference. Goaltender Christian Purboo faced 51 shots before a crowd of 2,131.

"We really pushed at the end," said assistant coach Adam Dennis of the Battalion, which lost 8-4 Thursday night to the visiting Owen Sound Attack and continues a four-game home stand in hosting the Sudbury Wolves at 2 p.m. Sunday.

"It's a good team over there. They've got seven guys who are point-per-game players, seven guys that have over 50 points, and to take them to the last minute is a good effort. It was a good, solid third period for our boys, but we need more. We need points right now and we have to find ways to get those. I liked our resolve. They stuck with it."

The Troops, trailing 4-2 after being outshot 38-9 through two periods, tested Dhillon a number of times through the first half of the third period before tying the game with goals 40 seconds apart. Moncada struck first at 10:09, banging home the rebound of a Harrison Caines shot at the lip of the crease. Patrick Brown had the second assist on Moncada's seventh goal of the season.

Brazeau then tied it, extending his franchise record to 53 goals on the season. Dhillon denied Brazeau at the right post, and the puck sailed into the air. Niagara's Jacob Paquette swatted it with his left hand to Brazeau, who batted it into the net. Struthers and Luke Burghardt drew assists.

Jason Robertson, who had two assists, set up the winning goal, lofting the puck from just inside the blue line. Purboo made the save, but the rebound went to Tomasino, who shoveled the disc home from the lip of the crease. Philip finished the scoring into the empty net at 19:15.

Niagara dominated the first period, being credited with a 14-2 edge in shots, but couldn't beat Purboo until 19:43, when Thomas cashed the rebound of a Tomasino effort.

The visitors struck again 14 seconds into the second period. Purboo got his blocker on a Robertson drive from the top of the left-wing circle, but the puck bounced off the end boards to Studnicka, who put the rubber into the short side.

The Battalion got on the board at 7:18, seconds after Dhillon sprawled to deny Burghardt. Brazeau kept the play alive and got the puck to Struthers, who steered it inside the right post around the fallen goaltender. Theo Calvas also assisted on Struthers's 28th goal.

It ended a Dhillon shutout streak of 147:43 dating to a goal by Justin MacPherson of the visiting Kitchener Rangers at 19:35 of the third period of a 10-2 Niagara win Feb. 21. Dhillon blanked the visiting Peterborough Petes 5-0 on Feb. 23 and host Owen Sound 9-0 the next day.

Maksimov scored a hotly contested goal at 8:58. From deep in the right circle he shoveled the rebound of a Johnathon Schaefer drive past Purboo, who had Ben Jones draped over him. Referees Ben Moser and Len Wood, whose performance was a source of crowd consternation throughout the game, let the goal stand, with Jones receiving the primary assist.

Penalty killer Chenier cut the Battalion deficit to 3-2 with his 25th goal at 17:07. Robertson and Matt Brassard mishandled the puck at the Niagara blue line, and Chenier raced in alone to slip it between Dhillon's pads.

Maksimov connected on the power play 46 seconds later, deflecting an Ivan Lodnia shot for a team-leading 37th goal. Struthers, who watched the Chenier and Maksimov goals from the penalty box after first being fouled and then whistled for high-sticking, drew a misconduct for words to Wood upon returning to the ice.

BATTALION BULLETS: The teams wrap up their season series at North Bay on March 17, the last day of the schedule. The Battalion is 2-3-0 against Niagara ... The Troops last played regular-season home games on consecutive days on Thursday and Friday, Oct. 1-2, 2015 ... In 261 games, Brazeau has 120 goals and 103 assists for 223 points, tied with Raffi Torres for fifth place on the franchise list. Brazeau surpassed Dylan Blujus and Barclay Goodrow for sole possession of ninth place on the career assists list ... The Battalion went 0-for-5 on the power play. Niagara was 1-for-5 ... The Battalion was without Travis Mailhot, David Maier and Kurtis Evans ... Forward Evans has been shut down for the season with a concussion and has returned home to Uxbridge, Ont. A third-round choice in the 2017 OHL Priority Selection from the Central Ontario Wolves minor midgets, he played 21 games this season, none since Dec. 15, scoring one goal and earning two assists for three points. He had one goal in 33 games as a rookie last season ... Among the missing for Niagara were Mason Howard and Andrew Bruder ... Robertson has a 19-game points streak, tied with Hugo Leufvenius of the Sarnia Sting as the longest in the league, in which he has 11 goals and 28 assists for 39 points ... Studnicka has a four-game points streak in which he has seven goals and two assists for nine points.

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