Staff
There’s no room for error in a 3-on-3 overtime and Matt Tustin’s misplay made that perfectly clear to the Fort Frances Lakers.
Nicholas Nigro took the turnover and went the other way to start–and then finish–a 2-on-1 with 14 seconds left in the extra session to give the visiting Thunder Bay North Stars a 4-3 comeback victory over the Lakers on Tuesday night.
The third-straight game between the two teams saw the second-place North Stars (31-17-6) take the rubber match from the fifth-place Lakers (24-24-3-4) in a game that featured a little bit of everything.
Tustin, who was in on every Laker goal during the game, seemed to be the ideal person to have the puck after Fort Frances killed off a slashing penalty to Jack Bernie in overtime.
But Nigro, who is fourth in the SIJHL with 33 goals, intercepted Tustin’s shot attempt from the blueline–leaving the Fort forward stuck being the lone man back to try and hold off Nigro and Brad Thrower on the odd-man rush.
Nigro sent it over to Thrower, who waited until the last second before firing the puck back over to Nigro, who sent it past Lakers’ goalie Brandon Bodnar.
The Lakers beat the North Stars 8-5 last Thursday in Thunder Bay, then lost 3-2 there the following night.
Tuesday’s loss mirrored Friday’s setback as the Lakers again were unable to hold a third-period lead.
The North Stars opened the scoring at 4:24 of the first when Ryan Gazich’s ill-advised pass up the middle was picked off by Jesse Talakoski at centre.
Talakoski pounded a shot on goal, which led to a rebound put home by Tyler Minoletti.
The Lakers came out flying in the second period.
Tustin made good on a power play just 35 seconds into the frame, then teamed with Hunter Buzzi to set up Dylan Kooner 18 seconds later for a 2-1 Lakers’ lead.
The Kenora-based Buzzi joined Fort native and fellow Kenora Thistles’ forward Ian Tookenay in the lineup Tuesday as affiliate player call-ups.
Kooner added his second goal on a second Lakers’ power-play tally at 15:26, taking a short pass from Maverick Lynes and zipping it past goalie Nathaniel Dupuis.
A good forechecking shift for the visitors paid off at 17:45 when Austin Storm won a battle behind the net and passed the puck to Troy Sherman, who quickly centered it to John Parrott in the high slot for a quick shot that made it 3-2.
The North Stars kept coming in the third, with Ryan Walsh netting the equalizer on an end-to-end classic at 11:40.
Dupuis had 33 stops to earn the win while Bodnar had 34 in a losing cause.
The Lakers close out their regular-season schedule tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. when the first-place Dryden GM Ice Dogs (44-7-4) roll into the Ice For Kids Arena riding an 11-game winning streak.
In related news, Kooner was named the SIJHL’s most sportsmanlike player this season.
The 20-year-old from Abbotsford, B.C. has accumulated just 14 penalty minutes in 54 games.
Kooner beat out Thrower and Jacen Bracko (Dryden) for the award.
But the news wasn’t as good for Lakers’ leading scorer Jared Virtanen.
Kooner’s linemate and fellow 20-year-old from Abbotsford was beaten out for the best defensive forward honour earlier today by Brett Wolframe of Thunder Bay.
Nic Noseworthy (Dryden) was the other nominee.
