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OHL North Bay Battalion

Troops Blank Petes, Even up Series

March 31, 2016 - Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
North Bay Battalion News Release


PETERBOROUGH, Ont. - Goaltender Jake Smith made 29 saves for the shutout to backstop the North Bay Battalion to a 2-0 victory Thursday night over the Peterborough Petes, pulling the Troops even in their first-round Ontario Hockey League playoff series.

Jacob Ball and Riley Bruce each scored a goal and Mark Shoemaker had two assists for the third-place Battalion, which, tied with the sixth-place Petes at two games apiece, plays host to Game 5 of the best-of-seven Eastern Conference quarterfinal at 7 p.m. Friday.

Goaltender Matthew Mancina faced 34 shots for Peterborough, which won the previous two games, 5-3 at North Bay on Sunday and 7-6 in overtime at home Tuesday night.

But the fourth game played out drastically differently, as Smith recorded his first shutout of the series while extending his franchise record for career playoff blankings to five.

Smith made two potential late game-saving stops, robbing Hunter Garlent with the glove in tight to the right side at 13:56 of the third period and sliding to smother a one-timer by Eric Cornel from the top of the left-wing circle with the Petes on the power play after Kyle Wood went off for holding on the Garlent play.

Peterborough native Ball scored what proved to be the winning goal at 11:38 of the second period, taking a centring pass from Steve Harland and, using defender Brandon Prophet as a screen, beating Mancina from the mid slot. It was Ball's first OHL playoff goal and point, and Shoemaker earned his first playoff point with the other assist.

The teams traded chances earlier in the period as Zach Poirier fired high and wide past Mancina in the second minute and Mathew Santos sidestepped the Petes' Dominik Masin only to be denied in alone in the fourth. The Troops' Maurizio Colella took a pass from Mike Amadio but couldn't tuck the puck home at the right post in the 10th minute.

Mancina made a good save against Max Kislinger with the rebound of a left-point lob at 13:30, and Garlent fired wide on a dangerous man-advantage rush off the right wing after Bruce went off for crosschecking at 15:03.

Bruce scored on the power play at 11:57 of the third period with Jonathan Ang serving a slashing call. Shoemaker fed the puck along the blue line to the left point, and defenceman Bruce hammered the puck through a heavy screen. Poirier had the other assist.

The Petes outshot the visitors 10-8 in the scoreless first period, enjoying several close chances. Greg Betzold was in alone on Smith after a turnover, but the goaltender stymied several deke attempts at 2:32, with the Troops' Kyle Potts sent off for a slash on the play.

Daniel Nikandrov hit the left post behind Smith in the ninth minute, and Garlent did the same just more than a minute later before the Petes took two late penalties and the shots margin narrowed.

BATTALION BULLETS: Smith's last playoff shutout was an 8-0 decision over the visiting Kingston Frontenacs on March 27, 2015, in the opener of a conference quarterfinal ... Ball was a third-round pick in the 2015 OHL Priority Selection from the Peterborough Petes minor midgets. He had one goal and four assists for five points in 49 games this season ... Harland has two goals and two assists for four points in the series, one in each game ... Amadio, Santos and Wood each played his 46th OHL postseason game, one more than Matt MacLeod and tied for fourth place in franchise history ... The Battalion was 1-for-4 on the power play. Peterborough went 0-for-4 ... Opening lines included Amadio centring left winger Colella and right winger Santos, Brett McKenzie centring left winger Ball and right winger Harland and Poirier centring left winger Brad Chenier and Daniil Vertiy on right wing. Potts pivoted left winger Kislinger and right winger Justin Brazeau ... The Battalion scratched Jake Ramalho and Brett Hargrave ... Santos's three-goal game Tuesday night was the first by a member of the Battalion in the playoffs since Barclay Goodrow scored three goals in a 5-2 road win over the Oshawa Generals on April 20, 2014, in Game 2 of the conference final ... The referees were Mike Hamilton and Mike Marley.

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