Staff
A slow start cost the Fort Frances Lakers a chance for a victory Saturday night in Dryden.
The second-place Ice Dogs erupted for four first-period goals, outshooting the Lakers 20-5, en route to a 7-2 win to improve their record to 27-5-5.
The loss was the fourth-straight for the fifth-place Lakers (8-24-4).
Dryden got on the board 2:47 into the game when Brenden Church beat Jameson Shortreed.
Kyle Heck then made it 2-0 just 47 seconds later.
The Lakers fought back as Henry Gutierrez beat Dryden goalie Curtis Barker at 15:47.
But the Ice Dogs regained their two-goal advantage just over a minute later on Ben McClellan’s tally, then went up 4-1 when Jon Mitchell’s 5-on-3 power-play marker found its way into the net as time expired.
The Ice Dogs followed that up with another power-play goal 56 seconds into the second when BJ McClellan made it 5-1.
Gutierrez netted his second of the game, and 11th of the season, at 3:59 to cut the deficit to three.
But Dryden iced the game in the third, getting goals from Mitchell and Heck to round out the scoring.
Shortreed blocked 37 of the 44 Ice Dog shots while Barker turned away 20 of the 22 fired his way.
The Lakers will look to halt their losing streak when they host the Sioux Lookout Flyers (16-21-2) tomorrow (Jan. 19) at 7:30 p.m.
Fort Frances has a 2-4 record against Sioux Lookout so far this season, but haven’t faced the Flyers since a 5-3 road setback on Dec. 3.
