Joey Payeur
The Fort Frances Lakers decided not to dwell on their first losing streak of the season.
Tanner Fricke scored the shootout winner last night as the Lakers edged the Minnesota Iron Rangers 4-3 in Hoyt Lakes.
The Lakers (30-5-0-2) hit the 30-win plateau while rebounding from their first back-to-back losses of the season after falling 5-2 against the host Thunder Bay North Stars on Tuesday night.
The Iron Rangers led after the first round of the shootout as Lucas DeBenedet missed on his chance while Austin Frank beat Jordan Cartney.
But the results flipped in the second round when Bryson Jasper made a slick deke before going upstairs on Minnesota goalie Alex Reichle while Cartney slammed the door on Matt Audet.
Fricke then put the Lakers on the brink of victory with a quick move to beat Reichle.
Needing to score to prolong the shootout, Jason Reynolds of Minnesota (21-9-2-3) couldn’t solve Cartney, who improved to 20-2-1 for the season by winning his first start in the last three games.
The Iron Rangers held three leads in the game, with the Lakers fighting back each time to eventually win for the sixth time in seven games against Minnesota this season—three of them by one goal.
Lyndon Lipinski notched a pair of goals, including one on the power play, to give him 21 for the season while DeBenedet’s league-leading 31st at 10:17 of the third forced overtime.
Eric Madison, A.J. Rupert, and Evan Erickson (power play) replied for Minnesota.
Cartney recorded 19 saves in regulation and overtime while Reichle turned aside 29 shots.
On Tuesday in Thunder Bay, the North Stars (24-6-1-3) scored single goals in the first and second periods before racking up three in the third to post their third victory of the season against the Lakers—more than any other team in the circuit.
Bryce Lipinski notched his 14th of the campaign for the Lakers, who went 0-for-6 on the power play, while Jasper added his fifth of the season and first since returning to the Lakers in a trade last week.
The Lakers will get another crack at the North Stars, riding the league’s best current winning streak at seven games, in their next outing Saturday.
Game time is 7:30 p.m. at the Ice For Kids Arena.
