Brandon Coe scored two goals and Mitchell Russell added three assists as the North Bay Battalion handled the Sudbury Wolves with relative ease on Thursday night, skating to a 4-1 victory.
Sudbury put 21 shots on goaltender Dom DiVincentiis, who did enough to earn his fourth win of the season. His skaters made it easy in front of him, giving up very few good scoring opportunities while slowing the Wolves down throughout the game, limiting their threats and chances. Defencemen Ty Nelson and Alexander Lukin had the other goals for North Bay, Lukin’s being his first OHL goal.
Sudbury did not have much jump, though they came in with a 2-1-1 record since shipping off their two best players (Jack Thompson and Chase Stillman to the Soo and Peterborough, respectively) before the Jan. 10 trade deadline. The Battalion rolled out some different line combinations due to a depleted roster of their own, with usual top-six forwards Liam Arnsby (lower body, out indefinitely), Kyle McDonald (suspension) and Kyle Jackson (knee + COVID-19 protocol) all unavailable. The result was Owen Van Steensel playing with Russell and Coe, while Matvey Petrov moved to a line with Michael Podolioukh and Nikita Tarasevich.
The Battalion had a fifth goal wiped off the board by an errant early whistle from the referee with about five minutes remaining, but it had no bearing on the final result. North Bay now sits at 42 points, eight behind Mississauga for the division lead.
The Wolves are sitting ninth in the Eastern Conference, one up from the Niagara IceDogs, with a record of 10-20-3. Overall, the Pack is second last in the OHL, again just ahead of Niagara Falls.
The Pack plays at home tonight against the Oshawa Generals and then they hit the road for a Sunday afternoon match against North Bay.
