BRAMPTON, Ont. – Sam Carrick scored two goals to pace the Brampton Battalion to a 5-2 victory over the Erie Otters in Ontario Hockey League action Sunday, vaulting the Troops into first place in the Central Division.

Philip Lane, Mitchell Porowski and Brandon Robinson also scored for the Battalion, which moved its won-lost-extended record to 24-11-8 for 56 points, one ahead of the idle Niagara IceDogs in the division. Goaltender Matej Machovsky faced 21 shots in boosting his record to 16-7-4.

Sondre Olden and Liam Maaskant scored for Erie, which suffered an eighth consecutive loss, all in regulation time, and fell to 5-35-2 for 12 points, fifth in the Midwest Division. Goaltender Ramis Sadikov made 37 saves.

“I give Erie a lot of credit,” Battalion coach Stan Butler said of the Otters, who opened and closed the scoring. “They work really hard. I was pretty disappointed with our start. We were playing a little too much individual hockey, and our team isn’t cut out that way. 

“We’re stronger as a group than we are as individuals, and that’s the thing you have to fight all the time with teenagers when you get games like this, that guys don’t get carried away and lose sight of what the mission of the game is.”

Said Butler: “No matter whether you’re the first-place team or the last-place team, you still have competitive athletes on your team and teams play hard. When teams come in to play here, there are usually a lot of Toronto kids on their team, and I find for the most part kids seem to have their better games when they’re playing here.”

Said captain Carrick: “We knew that we didn’t want to take anything for granted against these guys. We knew we had to work hard if we wanted to get the two points.”

The Battalion held an 11-1 edge in shots before Olden scored at 12:54 of the first period, moving down the left wing and firing a shot that appeared to glance off the shaft of defender Brenden Miller’s stick between Machovsky’s legs.

“They had a good start by getting the first goal, but we didn’t quit and just came back,” said Carrick, who tied it at 15:29, spinning off an opponent behind the goal line and driving to the crease from the right-wing corner to shovel the puck past Sadikov.

Lane connected at 17:01, streaking down the right wing and firing from a sharp angle. Marcus McIvor drew the lone assist.

Porowski scored what proved to be the winner at 18:38, stepping around defender Troy Donnay and beating Sadikov over the glove from the top of the left circle.

The Battalion outshot the visitors 9-7 in the scoreless second period for a 28-11 edge through 40 minutes.

Erie had a pair of two-man advantages in the period lasting a combined 2:21 but failed to capitalize. Machovsky stood tall as Jimmy McDowell and Olden took one-timers from the high slot.

Carrick scored his team-leading 21st goal of the season 39 seconds into the third period on a highlight-reel rush, making a nifty toe-drag move around McDowell before sliding a backhander past the lunging Sadikov from the left side of the goalmouth.

“Carrick made a great individual effort to make it 4-1, and that was a key goal,” noted Butler, whose charges won for the first time in three games but are 10-1-4 in their last 15.

Robinson struck for his ninth goal at 7:17, converting a pass from Barclay Goodrow with a backhanded shot through the five-hole.

Defenceman Maaskant fooled Machovsky with a slap shot from outside the blue line at 11:53. The puck deflected off the goaltender’s stick into the top left corner.

The Battalion scratched Jordan Auld, Connor Jarvis and Andreas Tsogkas. Erie, which dressed 18, two below the limit, was without Tyler McCarthy, Johnny McGuire, Connor Crisp and Dane Fox.

The Battalion hosts the Plymouth Whalers at 7 p.m. Thursday.

BATTALION NOTEBOOK: Attendance was 1,410, second-lowest in Battalion history to the 1,333 for an Oct. 1, 2010, game against the Peterborough Petes. The previous low this season was 1,436 on Oct. 23 against Peterborough … The Battalion power play was 0-for-3. Erie went 0-for-6 … The Battalion is 13-6-2 at home. Erie, which lost on Friday and Saturday nights to the host Owen Sound Attack, is 2-19-1 on the road … The Otters are 1-11-1 in their last 13 games, the lone win a 5-3 home-ice verdict Dec. 17 against the Sarnia Sting … Lane’s 13th goal was his 100th career OHL point … Goodrow extended a points streak to eight games. He has five goals and seven assists for 12 points in the run … Carrick moved into a 14th-place tie with Luch Aquino on the Battalion’s career scoring list and is tied with Howie Martin for eighth place in all-time goals for the club. Carrick has 68 goals and 75 assists for 143 points in 229 games … Machovsky was assessed two minor penalties, for delay of game and interference. The delay call resulted in the Troops playing two men short for 51 seconds … Defenceman Auld turns 19 on Monday … Opening line combinations included Carrick centring left winger Ian Watters and right winger Goodrow, Patrik Machac pivoting left winger Derek Froats and right winger Lane and Jamie Lewis skating between left winger Brett Mackie and right winger Matt MacLeod. Porowski centred left winger Alex O’Neil and Robinson on right wing … Fox, who has two goals and one assist for three points in four games since a trade from the London Knights, sat out with flu … Battalion players signed autographs for fans in the north concourse of the Powerade Centre after the game.