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OHL North Bay Battalion

Victory over Ottawa Clinches Home Ice

March 19, 2015 - Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
North Bay Battalion News Release


NORTH BAY, Ont. - At least for the time being, the challenge has been denied.

The North Bay Battalion got goals from five different players in a 5-2 victory over the Ottawa 67's Thursday night, fending off an effort by Ottawa to tie the Troops in the Ontario Hockey League's race for Eastern Conference playoff positioning.

Ray Huether, Mathew Santos, Brett McKenzie and Nick Moutrey each had one goal and one assist and Ryan Kujawinski also scored for the Battalion, which moved its won-lost-extended record to 35-20-11 for 81 points, second in the Central Division and third in the conference.

Goaltender Jake Smith faced 24 shots as North Bay clinched home-ice advantage in the first playoff round, against either the Kingston Frontenacs or Niagara IceDogs. The Battalion will face Kingston unless the Troops lose their last two games in regulation time and Ottawa wins its final two.

Trent Mallette scored both goals for the 67's, who lost for the first time in three games and are 36-25-5 for 77 points, second in the East Division and fourth in the conference. Goaltender Leo Lazarev made 31 saves.

"I was happy we held the lead in the third period," said Battalion coach Stan Butler. "Ottawa's a good team, and they played us hard tonight. The game went back and forth, and for the most part our guys stayed with what we needed to do."

The trio of centre Huether, McKenzie on left wing and right winger Santos combined for three goals and six points before a crowd of 3,675.

"We've liked Santos and Huether together all season," noted Butler. "Tonight McKenzie seemed to fit in really well there."

Santos scored what proved to be the winning goal when he gave North Bay a 3-2 lead at 18:42 of the first period. McKenzie fed the puck from behind the goal line to Santos in the right-wing circle, and he quickly snapped home his 11th goal of the season.

Huether opened the scoring at 7:59, walking off the end boards into the left circle and turning to beat a screened Lazarev to the stick side. Santos earned the lone assist.

Mallette replied at 11:30, beating a sliding Smith on assists by Sam Studnicka and Jeremiah Addison, before Kujawinski struck at 14:24, driving to the net on the left side to convert a perfect backhand cross-ice pass from Moutrey. Alex Henriksson also assisted on Kujawinski's 30th goal of the season and his 17th with the Troops.

Mallette tied it at 17:21 as he followed up on his own rebound and slid the puck under Smith's left pad.

McKenzie made it 4-2 at 9:56 of the second period. Lazarev parried Huether's shot off the right wing with the blocker but left the puck for a charging McKenzie, who fired it home for his 10th goal. Marcus McIvor earned the other assist.

The visitors tested Smith early in the third period, but he was up to the task, with his biggest save coming in the seventh minute with Ottawa on the power play. Smith stretched to deny Nathan Todd's attempt to convert a Nevin Guy rebound.

Lazarev went to the bench for a sixth skater with 3:35 left, but the 67's failed to generate a solid scoring chance, while at the other end Santos twice missed the open net.

A faceoff in Ottawa territory brought Lazarev back into the crease, which he vacated again with 2:17 to play. Moutrey finished the scoring into the empty net at 17:57. The unassisted goal was Moutrey's 25th of the season and his 10th with North Bay.

The Battalion visits the Mississauga Steelheads at 7:30 p.m. Friday before hosting Kingston at 2 p.m. Sunday on Pepsi Fan Appreciation Day, the last day of the regular season. The game at Mississauga can be seen live in North Bay on TVCogeco Cable 12 and heard on Country 600 CKAT.

BATTALION BULLETS: With home ice assured, the Battalion will open the playoffs at Memorial Gardens next Friday night and Sunday ... Butler, with his 611th career OHL coaching victory, again eclipsed George Burnett of the Belleville Bulls for sole possession of fourth place on the all-time list. Butler has a won-lost-tied record of 611-610-65 in 1,286 games with the Battalion, in both Brampton and North Bay, and the Oshawa Generals. He and Burnett figure to be in a heated battle through the weekend ... Smith posted his 60th career win, fourth in franchise history and one behind Brad Topping. Bryan Pitton holds the record with 64 wins ... Overager Huether, who played his 200th career game in a 4-3 victory via shootout at Belleville last Sunday, has 11 goals and 24 assists for 35 points in 64 games ... The Battalion, 3-0-1 against Ottawa, went 0-for-2 on the power play. Ottawa was 0-for-4 ... Other lines had Nick Paul centring left winger Zach Bratina and Mike Amadio on right wing, Kujawinski centring Moutrey on left wing and right winger Henriksson and Zach Poirier centring left winger Mike Baird and right winger Hampus Olsson ... The Troops scratched Zach Shankar, Owen Green and Mark Shoemaker ... Liam Herbst sat out with flu, with Olivier Lafreniere backing up Lazarev. Travis Konecny missed a third straight game with what's been described as an upper-body injury.

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