BRAMPTON, Ont. – Michael Catenacci scored the only goal of a shootout after goaltender John Gibson made 43 saves through overtime, sending the Kitchener Rangers to a 2-1 victory over the Brampton Battalion in Ontario Hockey League action Thursday night.

Catenacci made a backhand-forehand move to slip the puck past the right pad of Battalion goaltender Keegan Wilson. Zach Lorentz then missed the net on his attempt.

The Battalion, which shot first in each round, saw Barclay Goodrow, Brett Mackie and Brandon Robinson denied in their efforts.

Josh Sterk scored in regulation time for Kitchener, which won a fourth straight game to move its won-lost-extended record to 18-7-1 for 37 points, second in the Midwest Division.

Sam Carrick knotted it 1-1 at 19:29 of the third period for the Battalion, 14-9-4 for 32 points, tied for first place in the Central Division with the Niagara IceDogs, who defeated the visiting Erie Otters 7-2. Wilson faced 25 shots through overtime before a crowd of 2,011.

 “I thought we played a pretty good game,” said coach Stan Butler, whose Battalion lost centre Patrik Machac to an upper-body injury in the second period. “We limited them to 25 shots, including overtime. They’re a pretty good offensive team, and we outshot them 17-2 in the third period.

“Effort doesn’t always equal results, and we got one point tonight, but we have to find ways to score goals. Every point you get on our side of the fence right now is important. There are a lot of battles going on right now, so you have to get points any way you can.”

Said Carrick: “The guys battled hard for 60 minutes there, and we didn’t give up. It was a hard-fought, tight game.”

Wilson too lauded the Troops’ competitive spirit.

“I thought we definitely played well today. We got a lot of shots on net; we just weren’t able to capitalize. The last few seconds tying it up just showed how much heart we have on this team. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to get the victory, but it just shows how much character we have in this room.”

Carrick scored with Wilson on the bench for a sixth attacker. Carrick, positioned in the slot, deflected Dylan Blujus’s left-point shot between Gibson’s legs. Goodrow drew the second assist, extending a career-high points streak to 10 games.

Kitchener’s Cody Sol had the best chance in overtime with the teams skating three a side as he fired a wrist shot from inside the left circle. Wilson made the save with his left pad.

Gibson was assessed a roughing minor at 3:18 of overtime after punching Philip Lane with the blocker at a stoppage, putting the Battalion on the power play. Goodrow then drew an even-it-up interference penalty at 4:04.

Sterk struck at 16:24 of the second period, backhanding the puck over Wilson’s left pad from the right-wing circle off the rebound of a shot by Brent Pedersen.

Lane had the Battalion’s best chance of the period, streaking into the Kitchener zone on the left wing and beating a defender to the outside before cutting toward the net and being denied by Gibson’s glove.

Wilson foiled Catenacci on a point-blank chance with the teams skating four a side. Catenacci took a pass in the high slot, but Wilson made a right-pad save on the low drive.

The scoreless first period saw the Battalion register a 10-9 edge in shots.

Goodrow, who received a breakout pass up the right-wing boards from Carrick, broke in on a two-on-two rush with Robinson and cut to the middle before releasing a high wrister that was gloved by Gibson.

The Battalion scratched Matt MacLeod, Alex O’Neil, Ian Watters and Michael Santini. Kitchener scratches were Evan McEneny, Andrew Crescenzi, Keli Grant, Max Iafrate, Jared Gilbert and Matia Marcantuoni.

The Battalion visits the Sudbury Wolves at 7:35 p.m. Friday. The game can be seen live in Brampton on Rogers Cable 10 and in Bolton, Caledon and Orangeville on Rogers Cable 63.

BATTALION NOTEBOOK: Each team went 0-for-2 on the power play ... The Battalion is 7-5-2 at home, while Kitchener is 6-4-1 on the road ... The last time the Battalion tied a game in the final minute was Dec. 12 last year, when Goodrow scored at 19:08 of the third period in an eventual 3-2 overtime win over the visiting Oshawa Generals ... The Battalion has won three of seven extended games, including two of five shootouts ... Kitchener’s two shots in the third period tied the low mark of the season for the Troops in a period, achieved twice previously ... An official scoring change after the game saw Goodrow credited with an assist that originally went to Lane. Goodrow has scored nine goals and added four assists for 13 points in his streak ... Opening line combinations featured Carrick centring left winger Robinson and right winger Goodrow, Machac pivoting left winger Mitchell Porowski and right winger Lane and Jamie Lewis centring left winger Mackie and Andreas Tsogkas on right wing. Connor Jarvis centred Brenden Miller on left wing and Adam Lloyd on right wing ... Defence pairings were Cameron Wind with Zach Bell, Blujus with Marcus McIvor and Spencer Abraham with Jordan Auld ... Bell delivered two crushing checks in the first period on Brandon Lesway and Pedersen ... Kitchener defenceman Ryan Murphy played his first game since suffering a concussion from a head check by Niagara’s Tom Kuhnhackl on Nov. 4 ... With four forwards scratched, Miller, normally a defenceman, again skated up front ... In a pregame ceremony, Lloyd was recognized as the Battalion’s scholastic player of the month for November ... The Battalion visits Kitchener on Feb. 10 to complete the two-game season set.