Special teams defined the second meeting of the season between the Battalion and the Wolves. Friday night in Sudbury, two power play goals and a shorthanded goal allowed the Wolves to earn their second victory in five days against North Bay, this one a 2-1 victory in regulation time. This followed a 4-3 overtime victory Sunday at North Bay, in which the Wolves won the extra point, after trailing early in the third period.

The Battalion entered Friday’s game with the third-best power play in the league, while the Wolves responded with the best penalty kill in the OHL. It was the Wolves whose special teams continued to stifle the opposition, with a penalty kill rate of 90.5% (2/21) at home in their first four games at the Sudbury Community Arena and finishing the night 5 for 5 in this category while going 2 for 5 on their power play chances.

And these opportunities presented themselves in an inopportune way for the battalion at the end of the match. Trailing by just one point, they took a few penalties in the final five minutes, which really hurt their chances of mounting a sustained offensive push while looking for the late equalizer.

Between penalties and a few long periods of no play in which officials put the helmets down for reviews (on multiple occasions), the Battalion couldn’t find a good rhythm to tie the game in the later stages.

Still, it might feel like a missed opportunity for North Bay when you look back on it, as they were right in that game against Sudbury (7-4-0-0), especially in the first two periods when they finished even with shots at 20 apiece, but Nate Krawchuk (2-3-0-0) made only one save better than Mike McIvor (5-2-1-0) in the first 40 minutes.

Sudbury opened the scoring in the first period. The Wolves were on the power play late in the period with Jacob Therrien in the box for roughing at 15:47. Off the offensive zone faceoff, the Wolves played the puck to the point where defenseman Nick DeAngelis slapped a shot from the spot on which McIvor made the initial save. But the rebound bounced about three feet to his left side where Chase Coughlan (8) grabbed the loose puck, spun and backhanded it under the pads of the North Bay goaltender to put the Wolves on board 1 -0 at 3:55 p.m.

Coughlan was then in the Sudbury penalty box the next time the Wolves scored. The battalion was on the power play after Coughlan was called for roughing at 11:13. The Wolves forced a turnover in their own zone and Chicago Blackhawks prospect (2023 4th round #99) Alex Pharand raced down the right wing, going end to end and as he entered the side circle right in the North Bay zone, he zipped a pass to a wide-open Kocha Delic (2) in the slot, who fired from the high stick side for Sudbury’s second goal, a 2-0 lead at 13 :11.

North Bay cut the lead in half thanks to a terrific individual effort from Lirim Amidovski. After Wyatt Kennedy knocked the puck off the boards and out of the North Bay zone, Amidovski raced past a defender to catch the loose puck, then rushed toward the net with another defender wrapped around him. Even held and slightly off balance, Amidovski (4) still managed to shoot a shot that went over Nate Krawchuk’s shoulder at 16:07.

In the third period, there were chances on both sides, but the main one that stood out was when Battalion defenseman Bronson Ride made what could have been a game-saving play about four minutes into the third period. A shot came from the far side boards that pulled McIvor out of his net and the puck slipped past McIvor and off Ride’s stick, and straight into a wide open net. Just before the puck crossed the goal line, Ride stopped the puck and shot it out of bounds to keep his team within a goal.

A strange sequence occurred in the third when the Battalion was just starting a penalty kick at 11:53 and Ride was called for roughing at 12:00. However, the officials reviewed the play and realized that Nathan Villeneuve had also committed an infraction on the play and was sent into the box for 4 minutes. Upon even closer examination, they felt that there was no blood spilled on Villeneuve’s high stick, Wyatt Kennedy, so Villeneuve was only going to be penalized for 2 minutes, and the overall result was a four against four for about 1:50, before a very short North Bay power play.

Villeneuve (2) put the game away with a power play goal in Sudbury at 19:49.

It’s early, but it looks like the Battalion and Wolves will face off in some very close battles throughout the season. In 2023-24, seven of eight games have been decided by a single goal. The Battalion won four of eight meetings against the Wolves in regulation, while three of the Wolves’ four victories came in overtime or shootouts, giving the Battalion 11 points in eight games against their division rivals.

Despite the loss, it was another close game for North Bay (7-5-1-0) who lost for the first time in regulation in their last four games, dating back to the 3-1 defeat against Sarnia on October 17 .

The battalion will return home for a Sunday afternoon clash against the Kingston Frontenacs at 2 p.m.