Dan Falloon
Fort Frances Lakers’ defenceman Ryan Presthus had been in coach Wayne Strachan’s good books going into Saturday night’s game at Sioux Lookout.
But he may very well have earned a volume to himself in the squad’s 5-4 comeback win over the Flyers.
Presthus notched a season-high three points, including the overtime winner, to key the improbable victory.
The Lakers were one second away from a loss when captain Tyler Stevenson netted the tying goal that sent the game to the extra session.
“He was probably one of our steadiest guys, and he was rewarded with an overtime goal,” Strachan said of Presthus. “Maybe it was a little ironic that it was his first goal [of the season] and it was a huge goal.
“It was a little tribute to how he’s been playing lately,” Strachan added.
Strachan also had pointed to Presthus as being the Lakers’ lone positive the night before in a 6-0 loss to the Fort William North Stars here.
Friday night’s shutout at the hands of Fort William was the Lakers’ second-straight blanking after suffering a 1-0 shootout loss to the Flyers here last Tuesday night.
But Justin Erhart’s first-period goal in Saturday night’s win ended the squad’s scoreless streak at 135:52.
Erhart’s eighth tally of the season opened the scoring at 8:18, coming as part of a blitz in which the Lakers outshot the Flyers 15-6.
Blake Boaz’s power-play marker, his seventh of the season, came just 1:28 later and staked the Lakers to a 2-0 lead.
The Flyers turned the tables in the second period, however, outshooting Fort Frances 18-9.
Nathan Brown got the Flyers on the board at 4:06 when he beat Lakers’ goalie T.J. Pocock.
Mike Jourdain replied late in the period for Fort Frances, notching his seventh of the season at the 17-minute mark to give the Lakers a 3-1 lead heading into the third.
“The first two periods, I felt, were really strong,” lauded Strachan. “We were just a really different team from Friday night.
“We were moving our feet and making good decisions. We were dominating down low in our cycle and forechecking.
“We’ve been stressing that over the last month and it’s been paying off when we do it,” he noted.
But the Flyers battled back in the third period. Chase Dobranski pulled Sioux Lookout to within one at 2:01 before Brown’s second of the game knotted things at 4:56.
The hosts then grabbed the lead at 14:15 when Logan McDonell beat Pocock.
“For some reason, we came out flat [in the third],” said Strachan. “We weren’t moving our feet and made a couple bad decisions with the puck and missed assignments on defence.
“After they went up 4-3, something clicked in, like, ‘Oh, we’ve got to work hard again.’
“We showed a lot of character, and maybe the hockey gods were on our side,” added Strachan.
The deities helped the Lakers force the game into overtime at the last possible second when Stevenson stuck for his 16th of the season past Jordan Giguere.
Strachan described the play as a smart string of hockey by his top line.
“It was a 3-on-2 line rush where Justin Erhart had the puck,” Strachan recalled. “He was coming down the left side, and their defenceman pinched him out right at the blueline.
“He made a really nice play, a drop pass off the boards to Byron Katapaytuk, who immediately shot from the blueline and the rebound came right out to Tyler Stevenson.
“He just made a quick backhand move and put it over the goalie.
“It was a really smart play by Justin to know that Byron was coming, and luckily Byron shot it to the net right away,” Strachan added.
Fort Frances didn’t delay any post-game plans too much as Presthus’ first of the season came just 30 seconds into overtime to snap the Lakers’ two-game losing streak.
Pocock made 32 saves to earn his second win of the season while Giguere turned aside 34.
It was a much different story Friday night as the Lakers got absolutely nothing going, mustering just 13 shots against the visiting North Stars, with only one of those coming in the third period.
“I just told them that if they’re happy with playing four good games in the past two weeks, then they’re going to get complacent,” Strachan sighed after Friday night’s loss.
“That’s what’s going to happen, we’re going to get beat,” he stressed.
The North Stars’ bevy of talent was on display, and Strachan acknowledged his team isn’t on the same level as Fort William. But he said they can be competitive with a heaping helping of elbow grease.
“We’re not a team that can just step on the ice and just think that our talent is going to win,” Strachan admitted. “We have to work for it, be mentally prepared, and we have to come and play 60 minutes.
“The last two games, seven goals to zero, has proven that.”
Ryan Magill opened the scoring for Fort William at 7:35, beating Jameson Shortreed after being fed an alley-oop cross-crease pass from Dustin Fummerton.
Ryan Pearson made it 2-0 just 1:40 later, firing one shortside under Shortreed’s right arm.
In the second, Mitch Forbes blasted a slapper into the net on Fort William’s lone power play of the game.
Cody Lund then put Fort William ahead by four with just 31 seconds left in the frame when his wrister beat Shortreed high.
In the third, the North Stars put up another pair, beginning when Jordan Davis scored just 36 seconds in with an elusive backhand.
Sam Dubinsky rounded out the rout when Shortreed couldn’t handle his wrister, which popped up and dribbled over the goal line.
Shortreed turned aside 39 of 45 shots he faced while his Fort William counterpart, Guillaume Piché, blocked all 13 attempts sent his way.
The Lakers continue their road swing tonight (Feb. 10) with a rematch against Sioux Lookout before lining up against the North Stars on Friday and Saturday (Feb. 12-13).
Their next home action comes Feb. 16 at 7:30 p.m. when the Flyers come to town.
