saultsports 
TIMMINS, Ont. – Kaeden McArthur tallied twice and had an assist, while Dryden Riley stopped every shot fired his way, to power the Timmins Rock past the Soo Thunderbirds 4-0 Thursday in a Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League affair at McIntyre Arena.
An opportunistic play gave Timmins the lead 14 minutes into the match-up when defenceman Braedyn Cyr lofted a puck into the Sault Ste. Marie zone from the centre red line that clipped off the stick of a defender and changed direction while eluding netminder Noah Metivier.
Remaining 1-0 Rock into the latter stages on the second stanza, the home side went up by a pair when McArthur sent an attempt to the target that was stopped, but teammate Lucas Lowe was right there to stuff in the rebound.
With the helper, McArthur now points in each of his past six games played.
As for Lowe, the tally was his 15th of the season, as he picked up a point in a fourth straight contest.
In the final frame, Timmins extended their lead early when McArthur did a double clutch in the left circle before ripping a short-side sizzler past Metivier at 1:08, moments into a power play.
Some superb point-blank saves by the T-Birds’ goalkeeper kept it close, however another extra-man marker off the stick of McArthur put it away for the Rock as he pumped one bar-down, for his second of the night, with under five minutes to play to round out the scoring.
That also saw him etch his name on the game sheet for the 22nd time in his past 14 outings.
With his third shutout of the season, Riley moves into a tie for the NOJHL lead, in that department, in collecting his 15th win of 2024-25.
Game Photos:
Thomas Perry – The Daily Press/Postmedia Network
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