BRAMPTON, Ont. – Ian Watters scored a shorthanded second-period goal and the Brampton Battalion battled through a run of third-period penalties to emerge with a 2-1 Ontario Hockey League victory Sunday over the Sudbury Wolves.

Brandon Robinson also scored for the Battalion, which moved its won-lost-extended record to 26-11-9 for 61 points atop the Central Division, two points behind the Ottawa 67’s in the Eastern Conference. Goaltender Matej Machovsky faced 21 shots before a crowd of 1,701.

Derek Schoenmakers scored for Sudbury, while goaltender Joel Vienneau made 34 saves. The Wolves are 24-16-3 for 51 points, tied for third place in the division with the Barrie Colts, who lost 3-0 on the road Sunday night to the Oshawa Generals.  

“We played two teams today,” said a livid Battalion coach Stan Butler, in part alluding to the officials, primarily referee Mike Marley. “Playing two teams is harder than playing one team.”

The Battalion’s top-ranked penalty killers did yeoman work in the final frame as Sudbury enjoyed three power plays in the period to the Troops’ none. The Wolves got five of the last six manpower advantages.

Offsetting fighting majors were assessed to Cameron Wind and the visitors’ Joshua Leivo at 8:36 of the third period after Leivo, whom many observers deemed to be deserving of an instigating minor, jumped Wind after a legal check on Michael Sgarbossa. In addition, Sgarbossa knocked Brett Mackie to the ice without penalty as they awaited a faceoff in the 19th minute.

It was all too much for Butler, who strode across the ice to berate Marley after the final buzzer.

The written and electronic game sheets originally differed as to what penalty Butler received. The former indicated two game misconducts for abuse of an official but cited an irrelevant rule for both, and the latter mentioned only one game misconduct before being corrected to two.

“I was just fed up,” said Butler, who has objected strongly to two calls by Marley in recent road games.

They were a late third-period holding penalty against Marcus McIvor that resulted in Oshawa’s 3-2 winner on the power play in overtime Jan. 13 and a quick whistle on what would have been a Battalion goal late in the third period of an eventual 3-2 loss via shootout to the Mississauga St. Michael’s Majors on Jan. 6.

Sudbury failed to capitalize on the third-period power plays, including a two-man advantage for 32 seconds, as Machovsky shut the door. Watters was banished for slashing at 8:50 and Barclay Goodrow for hooking at 10:18.

Said Watters: “Sometimes the calls don’t go your way, but you have to fight through it and stay positive as a group, and we seemed to do it well today. We just bore down in the end and came out with the win.”

With Connor Jarvis off on a questionable interference call, Watters drove into the slot to convert a Mackie pass from the end boards at 5:42 of the middle period. Mackie raced down the ice to retrieve the puck in the left-wing corner after a weak play on a dump-in by Vienneau, who probably would like to have frozen the disc.

Sam Carrick found himself alone in front of the goal after taking a pass from Patrik Machac on a Battalion power play but was unable to slide the puck between Vienneau’s pads. 

Schoenmakers opened the scoring at 1:56 of the first period, beating Machovsky between the legs with a one-timer from the slot off a pass by Samuel Schutt behind the goal line.  

Robinson tied it with his 10th goal of the season on the power play at 3:53. Machac drove to the net off the right wing for a backhanded attempt that was kicked out by Vienneau before Robinson swooped into the goalmouth to shovel home the rebound.

Watters’s redirection in the mid slot of Zach Bell’s right-point shot resulted in a video review at 8:27, leading to Marley reiterating that the apparent goal wouldn’t stand because of the use of a high stick.  

The Battalion scratched Spencer Abraham, Philip Lane and Andreas Tsogkas. Sudbury, which dressed 18, two below the limit, scratched Johan Mattsson, Justin Sefton, Jeff Corbett, Michael MacDonald, Mathew Campagna and Brody Silk.

The Battalion hosts Barrie at 7:30 p.m. Friday.

BATTALION NOTEBOOK: Butler may have been especially sensitive to late-game situations after the Battalion blew a two-goal third period lead in losing 5-4 via shootout Friday night at Mississauga … The Troops went 1-for-4 on the power play. Sudbury was 0-for-6 … The Battalion, which has won eight of its last nine games at the Powerade Centre, is 15-6-2 at home. Sudbury, which downed the host Niagara IceDogs 4-3 Saturday night, is 12-6-3 on the road … The Troops are 12-1-5 in their last 18 games … The Battalion is 11-5-3 within the division and 20-7-5 against the Eastern Conference … Watters’s goal was his 10th in 16 games this season. He missed three months with severed tendons in his right wrist … Opening line combinations included Carrick centring left winger Watters and right winger Goodrow, Machac pivoting left winger Mitchell Porowski and Robinson on right wing and Jamie Lewis centring left winger Mackie and right winger Matt MacLeod. Jarvis centred left winger Alex O’Neil and Derek Froats on right wing … Lane sat out with a concussion from a 3-0 home-ice victory Thursday night over the Plymouth Whalers … Battalion defenceman Dylan Blujus marked his 18th birthday … Froats, acquired in a Jan. 9 trade with the Kingston Frontenacs, played his sixth game with the Troops and his 100th in the OHL … Silk served the third game of a 12-game suspension for a blow to the head of Niagara’s Ryan Strome in a 5-2 home-ice loss Jan. 13 … Mattsson sat out with flu, while MacDonald and Campagna have concussions … O’Neil and Chad Thibodeau squared off at 1:58 of the first period, with the fight ending in a draw … Joe Monette was the other referee … The Battalion hosts Sudbury on Feb. 5 for the sixth of eight meetings.