BRAMPTON - The Brampton Battalion may not be well known outside of the Ontario Hockey League's Eastern Conference. But the Battalion trail Ottawa by just one point at the top of the Eastern Conference and lead the OHL in team defense with 108 goals allowed in 44 games.
Before an announced crowd of 1,975 at the Powerade Centre Thursday, the Battalion patiently pitched a 3-0 shutout over the Plymouth Whalers.
Derek Froats (4th), Sam Carrick (team-leading 22nd) and Matt MacLeod (6th) all scored for Brampton (now 25-11-3-5, 58 points). Plymouth is 30-12-2-1, good for 63 points and second in the Western Conference.
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The Battalion controlled the tempo of the game for nearly the entire 60 minutes, holding the Whalers to just nine shots on goal. The Battalion held Plymouth without a shot over the entire second period.
Brampton goaltender Matej Machovsky stopped all nine Plymouth shots to record his league-leading fifth shutout of the year. Scott Wedgewood played well in goal for Plymouth, stopping 32-of-35 shots.
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The Whalers didn't register a shot during the first 12 minutes of the first period, and the Battalion took a 1-0 lead at 7:02 of the frame. Mitchell Porowski's shot from the high slot was deflected in traffic by Froats.
Brampton seemed content to preserve the 1-0 lead the rest of the way.
Garrett Meurs had Plymouth's best scoring chance late in the first period, when he cut from the right circle in the Brampton zone to his left in front of the Battalion goal. Meurs tried a back-hand five-hole, and it rang off the post while Machovsky pounced on the puck and held on to it.
Wedgewood's best stretch of the game came in the second period when Brampton outshot Plymouth 16-0. Wedgewood stopped Patrik Machac's breakaway and a subsequent rebound. But Carrick scored to give Brampton a 2-0 lead at 17:28 of the period, skating to the left circle in the Plymouth zone and roofing a shot under the cross bar.
MacLeod made it 3-0 at 7:59 of the third period, scoring from just outside the left goal post through traffic.
Mitchell Heard had another good Plymouth scoring chance in the period on a re-direct in front of Machovsky, who made the save. J.T. Miller rang a shot off the post, but that scoring chance does not count as a shot on goal.
More content: Game story from Battalion.com.
The Whalers complete a busy stretch of six games over a nine-day span Saturday when they host Sault Ste. Marie at 7:05 p.m. at (6:45 p.m., 88.1FM WSDP).
Wednesday - Owen Sound 5, Plymouth 4 - The Owen Sound Attack built a 5-2 lead in the third period and withstood a late rally to defeat the Plymouth Whalers, 5-4, in an Ontario Hockey League game played Wednesday night in Owen Sound.
See more from www.plymouthwhalers.com.
