saultsports Photos: Northern Lights Photography
HEARST, Ont. – The Hearst Lumberjacks got a pair of tallies, featuring the game-winner, from their captain Adam Shillinglaw to propel them to a 7-4 victory over the Espanola Paper Kings in a Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League contest Friday at Claude Larose Recreation Centre.
Benefitting from a turnover in Hearst territory, Espanola’s Jack Anderson went in and fired a backhand on target that was saved by Alexandre Boivin, but Anderson was quick to scoop up the rebound and lift in his 18th goal of the season, on an unassisted effort.
It also extended a consecutive game point streak for Anderson to nine.
Coming back to tie it early in the middle stanza, the Lumberjacks’ Tyler Patterson chipped in a spinning feed from Mathieu Comeau over a sprawling Connor Hatfield in the Paper Kings’ net.
With the marker, both players have now etched their names on the game sheet in eight straight outings.
Adding another at 6:08, Hearst’s Ty McKay chased down a dump-in and put a perfect pass into the slot where Damien Bourdon-Lemoyne wired it in.
Countering less than a minute later, Espanola tied it thanks to Kaden Wicklander who took a cross-crease set-up from Atley Gringorten and promptly hammered it in for his 18th of the campaign.
The visitors then went back ahead on a man-down effort that saw Grant Booth power his way down the right wing and while going in managed to tuck his chance under Boivin and had it slide in.
Continuing to trade tallies, Shillinglaw sent Bourdon-Lemoyne darting down the right side where he finished off his second of the period, this one from a sharp angle.
Capping off the six-goal session, Hearst’s Aiden Kalin stuffed in a crisp back pass from Bronson Babyak to make it 4-3 for the hosts after two.
In the third, a giveaway helped Espanola notch an equalizer with 7:40 remaining that led to Jason Galante putting a play across to Booth, who pumped in his second of the night, with a sharp wrist shot.
However, a nice rush up-ice by Shillinglaw generated the eventual difference maker as he began the play, then whipped in the decider from the right circle off a set-up from Chase Thompson at 14:12.
The Lumberjacks then secured the triumph with a pair of shorthanded, empty net efforts, off the sticks of McKay, in close, and Shillinglaw, from distance, to wrap things up.
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