Lucas Punkari
The Fort Frances Lakers continued their winning ways Tuesday night, dumping the visiting Sioux Lookout Flyers 7-2 for their fifth-straight victory.
After trading a pair of goals with the Flyers in the first period, the Lakers dominated the rest of the way.
They scored twice more in the second period, then added three more markers during the late stages of the third, giving the squad its highest output of goals during the winning streak.
“I think if you look back at our last five games, we definitely have produced on offence and things are going right on that end of the game,” noted Lakers’ head coach and general manager Wayne Strachan.
“What it comes down is we’re working much harder, and our forecheck and cycle has been a lot better,” he noted.
“And when those things come together, you create offence and that’s what we’ve been doing right now.”
Forwards Jordan Larson and Adam Wensley led the way against the Flyers, with both netting a goal and two assists on a potent line that also included Bryan Broders.
“I think we see each other well out there,” Wensley said of the line, which was put together for the first time Tuesday night.
“We all play the same type of game and we all like to go to the net hard, and we just seem to find each other out there and it seems to be working good,” he reasoned.
Broders, Byron Katapaytuk, and Jon Carlson contributed to the cause with a goal and an assist each while forward Ryan Wildman chipped in a pair of helpers.
Steve Terry and Davis Smith also scored while goalie Tyler Ampe made 23 saves at the other end of the rink.
James McQueston and Cody Fraser replied for the Flyers, who suffered a fourth-straight loss to fall to 15-17-1 on the season.
The Lakers, meanwhile, improved their record to 24-8-4 to remain seven points behind the league-leading Wisconsin Wilderness, who won their 12th-straight game with an 8-0 drubbing of the Iron Range Ironheads last night in Hoyt Lakes, Mn.
The Lakers will take on the Ironheads tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. at the Ice For Kids Arena, then will welcome the Thunder Bay North Stars to town Saturday at 7:30 p.m. to wrap up the three-game homestand.
“We just got to keep doing the same things that we have been doing lately,” Larson stressed.
“They are both teams that like to work hard out there, and we need to make sure that we continue to match them with the intensity that we have brought in our last five games,” he warned.
