Bode Wilde goes 'coast to coast' scores game winner to give Spirit 4-3 OT road victory over North Bay

 

After Saginaw Spirit defenseman Bode Wilde and forward Blade Jenkins set up Saginaw captain Damien Giroux (9) for his ninth goal of the season at 16:27 of the third period to tie the North Bay Battalion at 3-goals apiece and force overtime; Wilde (a second round pick of the New York Islanders in the 2018 NHL draft) would not wait long, showing off his game-changing abilities just seconds into the overtime session when he picked up the puck behind the Saginaw net and skated 200-feet coast to coast past a pair of defenders, before beating Battalion goal tender Christian Purboo with the game winning goal just :49 seconds into overtime to give the Spirit (12-9-1-1) a 4-3 OT road victory over the Battalion (10-11-1-1) inside North Bay Memorial Gardens in North Bay, ON tonight. 

 

The win gives new Spirit head coach Chris Lazary his first career Ontario Hockey League victory after replacing former head coach Troy Smith who was let go earlier this week. 

 

Wilde had given the Spirit an early lead, scoring the first of his two goals tonight (fourth of the season) with assists coming from second year Saginaw forward's Camaryn Baber and Ryan Stepien for a 1-0 Saginaw lead at 3:30 of the first period; however, the Battalion answered just 68-seconds later when North Bay RW Kurtis Evans (1) knotted the game at 1-goal apiece with his first tally of the season at 4:38 of the opening period. 

 

The Battalion would pull ahead a bit later in the first when the OHL's number two leading scorer Justin Brazeau (21) buried his twenty first goal of the season for a 2-1 North Bay lead at 6:35 of the first period. 

 

Following a scoreless second, North Bay extended its lead when Battalion RW Brandon Coe (6) scored his sixth of the season from Mason Primeau and Harrison Caines to build a commanding 3-1 lead at 1:20 of the third period. 

 

The Spirit would get to within a goal of North Bay midway through the final frame when Red Wings prospect Brady Gilmour (6) banged home his sixth goal of the season from Cole Coskey and Cole Perfetti to make it a 3-2 game at 8:02 of the third period, prior to Giroux's game-tying goal which forced overtime. 

 

Purboo stopped 32 of the 36 shots he saw in between the pipes for the Battalion, while Spirit goal tender Ivan Prosvetov turned away 28 of the 31 shots he would see in net for Saginaw, which included some really big saves in the second period tonight. 

 

The Spirit will continue its northern Ontario road trip against the Sudbury Wolves with a  7:05 pm face off at the Sudbury Community Arena Friday night, before finishing the week with a 2 pm road game against the Owen Sound Attack at the Harry Lumley Bayshore Community Centre in Owen Sound, ON Sunday afternoon.