It was the captain that put away the first goal less than a minute into the game, then the Lakers never looked back.
Brady Krentz got the Lakers on the board early on a feed from Ian Ness just 46 seconds into the fourth game of the opening series of the Bill Salonen Cup Playoffs between the Fort Frances Lakers and the Thunder Bay North Stars.
Krentz would return the favour later in the period, feeding Ness for what would end up being the eventual game-winning goal with a few minutes left in the first period.
The early scoring came as a bounceback from the previous night, when the Lakers gave up two goals in the last three minutes of the third period to allow Thunder Bay to tie the game and take it to overtime, where they scored the winner about 12 minutes into the extra frame.
The Lakers led the third game in the series 2-1 and 4-2.
Lakers head coach Tyler Miller says it was the team’s leadership that righted the ship and took the momentum back.
“Hell of a response from the boys, that’s leadership in the room,” Miller said.
“That’s guys mentally prepared to go and knowing what the task is here and being ready to go.”
A powerplay goal 49 seconds into the second period by defenseman Evan Kabel and another about a minute later from Carter Deschamps resulted in North Stars starting goalie Keenan Marks getting the hook.
The Lakers penalty kill was on point keeping the North Stars powerplay off the board on five attempts.
Kabel’s goal at the start of the second was the Lakers lone powerplay marker in five of their own opportunities.
Coming on in relief of Marks, Liam Letters saved 13/14 shots. The lone goal was a superb solo effort by Noah McPherson who blew by a North Stars defenseman to put the Lakers up by five.
At the other end of the ice after Gunner Paradis started three games in a row, with an overtime win, a regulation loss, and an overtime loss, it was Nolan Koethler’s turn between the pipes for the Lakers.
Miller believes Koethler’s play early in the game showed the rest of the team he’d be solid the rest of the way.
“It was just his turn to go in,” Miller said of Koethler getting the start.
“He made great saves in the first two minutes and that showed the guys believe in him and they know what they have back there. He battled hard for us and he did it the right way.”
For his part, Koethler didn’t seem to feel like it was more than any other game despite not having played in a game setting since March 7 vs Kam River.
“I prepped lots, we have morning skates and I do lots of hand-eye drills before the game, so honestly I got right back into it, it didn’t feel any different,” Koethler said.
Koethler may have jinxed himself by telling his teammates not to curse his potential shutout bid during the second media timeout of the third period.
“I didn’t feel [the pressure] at all, but I definitely did curse myself,” Koethler said with a chuckle.
“It was up in the air but that was on me.”
The North Stars scored their only goal of the game with less than five minutes to go in the third period.
Miller says in order to beat the North Stars in the next two, the team needs to stick to the way they played last night.
“We’re excited to go there and we’re definitely excited to come back home to try and finish the job, but we’ve got to stick to our systems of discipline and play the right way,” Miller said.
“We’ve been playing well the whole series, a 4-1 loss, and two brain farts [Tuesday night], otherwise we’d have been up 2-1 and would have had a little jam to push a little harder. We’ve been coming at them and that’s what we’ve got to do. But we’ve gotta stay disciplined, know our structure, that’s the key. They’re all buying into that right now. So just no hiccups, no brain farts, and stick to the system.”
Pending incoming weather, the Lakers are due to play game five back in Thunder Bay on Friday night, and if the Lakers manage to win on the road they could come home with a chance to win the series in game six, scheduled back at Ice For Kids on Saturday night.
A potential game seven would head back to Thunder Bay on Tuesday night, April 1, if necessary.
