Dan Falloon
To be the best, you’ve got to beat the best.
While the fifth-place Fort Frances Lakers (10-25-4) put out a commendable effort against the second-place Dryden Ice Dogs (31-5-5) here Tuesday night, outshooting Dryden 39-21, the Ice Dogs withstood the barrage and skated away with a 4-3 victory.
For Lakers’ head coach Wayne Strachan, the loss was a “close but no cigar” scenario where the experienced Ice Dogs were better at taking advantage of the scoring opportunities provided.
“It’s a disappointing loss but I’m not disappointed in our play,” said Strachan. “There was a lot of good things that came out of the game.
“Defensively, we didn’t do that bad of a job, especially 5-on-5,” he noted. “We just had a couple of breakdowns, and they beat our ‘D’ walking out from behind the net and on a couple 1-on-1 situations, but it was a solid effort.
“A bounce here or there and you never know how the game could’ve went.”
The loss ended a two-game winning streak for the Lakers—only their second back-to-back wins of the season.
Goalie T.J. Pocock made his second-straight start for the Lakers after Jameson Shortreed was a game-time scratch with an illness.
Pocock had earned his first win of the season here Saturday in a 3-1 victory over the Wisconsin Mustangs.
Dryden opened the scoring at 5:22 of the first when Ben McClellan pounced on a loose puck lying in front of Pocock and scooped it into the net for his 11th of the season.
Pocock showed that he wasn’t shaken, though, robbing Ice Dog sniper Kyle Heck with a snazzy glove save just moments later.
The Lakers knotted the score at 11:20 after Tyler Stevenson gobbled up a rebound from Cody Edwards’ shot and roofed one over Dryden goalie Josh Baker for his 14th of the season.
McClellan out the Ice Dogs back in the lead early in the second period after deking a Laker defender and swooping around Pocock to deposit an open-cage marker.
Fort Frances had a golden opportunity to net the equalizer after Jon Mitchell and B.J. McClellan both were nabbed for interference at 13:37 to hand the Lakers a 5-on-3 for a full two minutes.
The Lakers pressed, but were unable to beat Baker.
The Lakers’ power-play woes took on a new face just over a minute into the third, falling victim to another shorthanded breakaway.
This time, Mitchell busted in on Pocock and slid a backhander over the line to give Dryden a two-goal cushion at 1:33.
“Their third goal, shorthanded, hurts,” sighed Strachan. “You always want your goalie to make a big save on a breakaway, but he’s out-matched.
“Having Edwards back at the point, he gambled a couple times and they got breaks off of it, and luckily they only got one goal.”
The Lakers started to respond, however. Moments after Pocock stoned Justin Lightfoot on a break, Fort Frances broke into the Dryden end, where Blake Boaz batted home a Matt Caulfield rebound at 5:56.
The power-play tally was Boaz’s sixth of the season, but his first since Nov. 18 at Dryden—a span of 18 games.
The Ice Dogs bounced back at 13:26 when Mitchell struck again, rocketing a one-timer to Pocock’s low right side to make it 4-2.
The Lakers crawled back to within one just under two minutes later on another rebound that Baker couldn’t control.
This time Byron Katapaytuk was the beneficiary as he popped one past Baker for his 10th tally of the season—the puck crossing the goal-line just before the net was knocked off its moorings.
That tally also came on the power play.
But Fort Frances’ efforts to tie the score were hindered by an interference penalty to Boaz shortly after the goal, and in the end the Lakers’ winning streak was halted at two.
Pocock made 17 saves for the Lakers while Baker turned aside 36 shots.
Strachan credited his team for pushing hard even after falling behind by two goals.
“We didn’t give up when that fourth goal went in,” he noted. “We could easily have given up, but we didn’t.
“We fought back, we got another one, and missed a great opportunity off the face-off play at the end.
“Tyler [Stevenson] just missed the puck. It’s unfortunate.
“We’ll regroup,” Strachan vowed. “We’ve just got to think about Friday now, and we’ll come out with the same intensity and effort.”
Defencemen Josh Scott and Brett Williams both left Tuesday’s game with injuries, but Strachan anticipated both will be in the lineup tomorrow night against the K&A Wolverines.
Game time is 7:30 p.m. at the Ice For Kids Arena.
