Brampton, ON 23 March 08 - On Easter Sunday night, the Brampton Battalion's Ontario Hockey League playoff prospects were resurrected.

Matt Duchene scored the breathing-room goal and had one assist as the Battalion defeated the Barrie Colts 5-1, cutting the Colts' lead in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference quarterfinal to 2-1.

The Battalion led a tight game 2-1 when rookie Duchene scored his first playoff goal at 16:44 of the third period, gathering a Luke Lynes rebound and snapping the puck past prone Barrie goaltender Michael Hutchinson.

"Those are the kinds of goals you have to get on a guy like Hutchinson because he's so good," said Duchene. "You have to keep crashing the net and getting those rebounds."

Cody Hodgson added a shorthanded empty-net goal at 18:46 and then pounced on a turnover to beat Hutchinson with a long wrist shot at 19:42. Hodgson has four goals in the series.

Barrie hosts the fourth game at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, with the series returning to Brampton at 7 p.m. Thursday.

The victory broke a string of 10 playoff losses for the Troops, all to the Colts. The Battalion's previous playoff win was a 4-1 home-ice decision over Barrie in the first game of a conference semifinal on April 6, 2006. The Colts won the next four games of that series and swept a conference quarterfinal last year.

Bobby Sanguinetti and John Hughes also scored for the Battalion. Goaltender Bryan Pitton made 31 saves, with his biggest stop coming at 9:15 of the third period when he gloved a blast from the left-wing circle by Stefan Della Rovere.

Marcus Pepe scored for Barrie, which finished fourth in the Central Division, 26 points behind the champion Battalion. Hutchinson faced 49 shots.

"I think our effort has been good in all three games," said Battalion coach Stan Butler. "We're back in the series right now. We found ways to score goals tonight. That was a huge goal by Duchene. At that stage of the game it gave us a level of comfort. Matt's a rookie, but he's one of the guys we need for us to be successful."

The Battalion outshot Barrie 20-10 in the first period, with defenceman Sanguinettii scoring the only goal, at 16:24. The Troops had a two-man advantage when Sanguinetti took a pass from Duchene in the high slot and snapped a wrist shot past Hutchinson's glove.

"We finally caught a break with the penalties and got a five-on-three," said Butler. "Barrie's had three of them, and once we got one early in the game we knew we had to take advantage of it."

Both goaltenders made fine saves in the period. Pitton foiled Della Rovere on a rebound in the 14th minute and sprawled to deny Alex Hutchings at the left post in the 15th.

"Bryan has been good in this series," said Butler. "When you play teams as good defensively as Barrie is, you better play well in your own end because there's little room for error."

Hutchinson got his right pad on a Kody Musselman shot in the deep slot in the 11th minute, stopped a Graham McNabb tip of a Cory Emmerton shot with his mask seconds later and got in the way of a Duchene shot on a two-on-one rush with Hughes in the 15th minute.

Hughes made it 2-0 at 4:06 of the second period when he fired a shot inside the left post from the mid slot for his first goal of the postseason. McNabb earned the lone assist. 

Pepe replied 43 seconds later, scoring from a tight angle to Pitton's right.

Battalion scratches were Ben Alavie, Matt Clark, Alexander Eriksson and Mike Lomas. Barrie was without Brett Halstead, Adam Payerl, Jaroslav Kruzik and Cory McGillis.

BATTALION NOTEBOOK: Attendance was 2,361 … The Battalion went 1-for-5 on the power play. Barrie was 0-for-5 … The Battalion, with at least 50 shots in each of the last two games, has outshot Barrie 133-99 in the series … Opening Battalion line combinations included Hodgson centring left winger Emmerton and right winger Jason Dale, Thomas Stajan skating between left winger McNabb and right winger Hughes and Duchene centring left winger Lynes and right winger Kyle DeCoste. Scott Tanski centred left winger Luke VanMoerkerke and right winger Musselman … Hodgson is the only player to have scored in all three games … Lynes, who assisted on Duchene's goal, tied Lukas Havel for 11th place on the Battalion's career playoff scoring list. Lynes has four goals and eight assists for 12 points in 24 games … Wojtek Wolski scored the Troops' previous playoff shorthanded goal, against the Belleville Bulls in the sixth game of a conference quarterfinal on April 1, 2006 … Pitton, who assisted on Hodgson's empty-netter, picked up his first career playoff win … Duchene earned his first OHL playoff points … McNabb's assist was his first point in 21 career playoff games … Alavie has a broken collarbone, while Eriksson is out for the season after knee surgery. Lomas has a charley horse … Musselman, who returned from a one-game suspension, landed several right hands in a first-period fight with Andrew Clouthier … Kruzik again was a healthy scratch, while Colt Kennedy returned after sitting out Game 2. McGillis served the third game of a five-game suspension for bullying … The Mexican national men's team was in attendance.