OHL North Bay Battalion

Milestone Win a Thriller

Published on February 4, 2022 under Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
North Bay Battalion News Release


NORTH BAY, Ont. - It was a win befitting the 700th in franchise history.

Matvey Petrov scored two goals 1:57 apart late in the third period and Kyle McDonald and Mitchell Russell added empty-netters to lift the North Bay Battalion to a stirring 5-2 comeback victory Thursday night over the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds in the first of back-to-back Ontario Hockey League games.

Russell had two goals and one assist, Petrov added an assist and Brandon Coe provided two as goaltender Joe Vrbetic made 26 saves in a solid performance.

North Bay improved its won-lost-extended record to 21-15-6 for 48 points, second in the Central Division, in a game played with 500 spectators permitted into Memorial Gardens under provincial health regulations that took effect Monday. The teams meet again at 7 p.m. Friday.

Rory Kerins scored one goal and added an assist and Ryan O'Rourke also scored for Sault Ste. Marie, 23-13-4 for 50 points atop the West Division and Western Conference. Goaltender Tucker Tynan allowed three goals on 32 shots.

The Greyhounds were without Tanner Dickinson, who suffered a compound fracture of the right femur in a 4-3 overtime win at home last Saturday night against the Barrie Colts and may be sidelined for the rest of the season. The Colts' Ethan Cardwell has been suspended for 15 games.

"Both teams at times kind of took over the hockey game, and both teams were extremely competitive in terms of battles, competes," noted Battalion coach Ryan Oulahen.

North Bay trailed 2-1 through 40 minutes, but Petrov, who missed five games with an upper-body injury suffered Jan. 22 in a 3-2 overtime loss at Barrie, returned to the lineup and tied the game at 15:13 of the final frame, gauging his shot from the left-wing circle before putting the puck past Tynan. Coe and Avery Winslow assisted.

Petrov netted the winner at 17:10, converting Russell's pass from the left corner at the goalmouth. Coe also assisted on Russian import Petrov's 24th goal of the season.

McDonald hit the empty net from centre ice at 18:18 for his 19th goal, his second in seven games since a trade from the Windsor Spitfires, and Russell hooked the puck into the vacant cage for his 23rd tally at 18:43 after Petrov missed the net.

O'Rourke opened the scoring on the power play at 6:16 of the first period, pinching deep to put the puck home off a backhand pass across the goalmouth from Kalvyn Watson. Kerins also assisted on defenceman O'Rourke's sixth goal.

Russell replied unassisted 1:42 later, moving toward the net from the right wing and, using McDonald in front as a decoy, beating Tynan on the short side.

Kerins restored the visitors' lead with his 26th goal at 17:23 after Tye Kartye won a puck battle on the end boards and fed the disc into the left circle, where Kerins one-timed it past Vrbetic.

The pace got faster as the second period progressed, with a lengthy stretch in which the Greyhounds pressed the issue that ended when Kerins was called for holding at 15:55. On the power play, Vrbetic foiled Owen Allard on a shorthanded breakaway before the Troops came up empty on several chances. McDonald couldn't tip a Petrov pass, and Petrov set up Coe for a close call just after the penalty expired.

BATTALION BULLETS: The Battalion has a won-lost-tied record of 700-780-52 since joining the OHL as a Brampton-based expansion club in 1998. Since relocation to North Bay in 2013, the Troops have a won-lost-extended record of 232-222-58 ... Vrbetic was backed up by Charlie Robertson, a seventh-rounder in the 2021 OHL Priority Selection from the London Jr. Knights U16s who signed a standard player's agreement, including an education package, before the game. Robertson, who turns 17 on April 2, attends Ridley College at St. Catharines. In two games in a covid-curtailed season, he has a 2.39 goals-against average, a .911 save percentage and two wins ... Kerins leads OHL scorers with 26 goals and 43 assists for 69 points, one more than Coe, who has 26 goals and 42 assists and is tied for second with Windsor's Wyatt Johnston ... In 229 games, Coe has 78 goals and 107 assists for 185 points, two more than Jeff Bateman and 10th in franchise history. Coe's 107 assists match Howie Martin for ninth in Battalion annals ... In five games against the 'Hounds, Petrov has five goals and seven assists for 12 points ... North Bay went 0-for-2 on the power play. Sault Ste. Marie was 1-for-2 ... The Battalion scratched Liam Arnsby, Kyle Jackson, Alexander Lukin and Dom DiVincentiis ... Among the missing for Sault Ste. Marie were Robert Calisti and Cole MacKay ... Ryan Elbers and Riley Page were the referees.

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