Sudbury gains series split

SUDBURY, Ont. — Landon McCallum scored on the power play at 10:18 of the third period to lift the Sudbury Wolves to a 3-2 victory Friday night over the North Bay Battalion, earning a split of the Ontario Hockey League teams’ home-and-home series.

David Goyette and Alex Pharand also scored, while goaltender Nate Krawchuk turned in a stellar performance with 31 saves for Sudbury, which has a won-lost-extended record of 11-17-3 for 25 points, fourth in the Central Division.

The Wolves, who dressed 11 forwards and seven defencemen, were without coach Derek MacKenzie, suspended with Nathan Villeneuve for actions in the previous game.

Anthony Romani and Nikita Tarasevich, the latter on a penalty shot, scored for North Bay, while goaltender Dom DiVincentiis matched Krawchuk in heroics, making 29 stops before a crowd of 3,413.

The Battalion, which reached the halfway point of its schedule, is 23-10-1 for 47 points, first in the division. The Troops won 7-3 Wednesday night at Memorial Gardens.

Sudbury, which trailed 2-1 through 40 minutes, scored two third-period goals 5:02 apart, sparked by Pharand at 5:16 when he tipped a screened right-point drive by Matthew Mania. The goal was Pharand’s 15th of the season.

With Pasquale Zito serving a roughing call that relied heavily on Quentin Musty’s embellishment, McCallum put a right-point shot through traffic for his sixth goal.

Dalyn Wakely missed a rebound before getting off a shot and being assessed a high-sticking penalty when the follow-through made contact with the sprawled Krawchuk at 12:54. The Sudbury goaltender traded big saves with DiVincentiis the rest of the way before the visitor was pulled for a sixth skater without effect.

Penalty killer Tarasevich was awarded the penalty shot when he was hooked by Pharand on a breakaway at 10:26 of the second period. Tarasevich swept in on the net from the left side and put a forehand deke on Krawchuk for a ninth goal on the season.

The latter stages of the period featured a rash of penalties, with the Wolves notable for a blindside hit on Tarasevich by Djibril Toure at 12:23 and a spearing major and game misconduct assessed to Andre Anania at 16:36.

The teams swapped first-period goals, with Sudbury opening the scoring, as it has in all three meetings, when Goyette connected from the slot at 6:39 on assists by Kocha Delic and Mania. It was Goyette’s team-leading 22nd goal.

Romani replied with his 11th goal at 14:28 off a rush, converting a backhanded pass off the end boards by Ethan Procyszyn. Luc Brzustowski had the other assist for his first point in four games since a Dec. 7 trade from the Soo Greyhounds.

With North Bay on the power play after Goyette received a roughing penalty at 17:15, DiVincentiis was knocked down in the crease by Ethan Larmand without a call.

The Battalion plays host to the Oshawa Generals at 1 p.m. Saturday in the traditional New Year’s Eve game. The Troops will wear white-based Centurion-styled uniforms for the first time.

BATTALION BULLETS: It was the teams’ third of eight meetings after the Battalion won 7-4 at Sudbury on Nov. 30 … Villeneuve, the third overall pick in the OHL Priority Selection in April, drew a two-game suspension for leaving the bench to fight Alexander Lukin on Wednesday night. MacKenzie was suspended two games for failure to control his player. His father, assistant Ken MacKenzie, ran the Sudbury bench … Ty Nelson and Owen Van Steensel each played his 100th game since being chosen by the Battalion in the 2020 Priority Selection. Nelson, the first overall pick, has 18 goals and 72 assists for 90 points, while Van Steensel, a fourth-round choice, has 17 goals and 32 assists for 49 points … The Battalion went 0-for-4 on the power play. Sudbury was 1-for-5 … North Bay’s Kyle Jackson saw the end of a career-high 13-game points streak in which he had 11 goals and 13 assists for 24 points, while Josh Bloom had a career-high 11-game points streak in which he had 13 goals and seven assists for 20 points ended … The Battalion was without Tnias Mathurin, Brayden Turley, Avery Winslow, Kyle McDonald and Brett Bouchard … Musty had an 18-game points streak, which was the OHL’s longest current such run, stopped. He had seven goals and 28 assists for 35 points in the stretch … Goyette has a nine-game points streak in which he has eight goals and 10 assists for 18 points.