Staff
A second-straight overtime game didn’t end up in quite the same elation for the Fort Frances Lakers.
In their first game since eliminating the K&A Wolverines 3-2 in overtime in Game 7 of their first-round series on Sunday, the Lakers were on the losing end last night—falling 4-3 to the host Dryden Ice Dogs in the opener of their semi-final series.
Game 2 goes tomorrow night in Dryden, with Games 3 and 4 here on Saturday (March 20) and Monday (March 22) starting at 7:30 p.m.
It was a game in which the Lakers never trailed, grabbing the lead in each of the three periods.
But Ben McClellan broke the pattern at 18:35 of the extra frame, beating Lakers’ goalie Jameson Shortreed on Dryden’s 42nd shot of the game.
The Lakers had opened the scoring at 6:18 of the first when Justin Erhart netted his first of the post-season after beating Ice Dogs’ goalie Josh Baker.
Dryden responded late in the frame on Chad Liley’s tally at 18:52.
In the second period, first-round hero Mike Jourdain, who had tallied the game-winner in the Lakers’ 1-0 win in Game 2 against the Wolverines, stayed hot—scoring at 7:19 to put Fort Frances ahead.
The advantage was short-lived, however, as Justin Lightfoot struck back just 34 seconds later to knot the game at 2-2.
A similar story played out in the third as Jourdain notched his second of the night, and fifth of the post-season, on a Lakers’ power play.
In his eighth game of the playoffs, Jourdain already is closing in on his regular-season total of eight goals.
But McClellan beat Shortreed a mere 53 seconds later to pull Dryden even once again.
McClellan then scored the winner late in the first overtime to allow Dryden to draw first blood in the best-of-seven showdown.
Shortreed made 38 saves for the Lakers while Baker turned aside 32 for the Ice Dogs.
As a consolation, the Lakers held the Ice Dogs’ power play off the scoresheet for the teams’ fourth-consecutive meeting as Dryden failed to capitalize on both of its attempts.
Before the Ice Dogs’ 0-for-16 slump with the man-advantage, it had been scoring on more than half of its power-play opportunities against the Lakers.
