Mitch Calvert
The Fort Frances Jr. Sabres’ six-game winning streak is over.
An early second-period goal by Kelin Ainsworth broke a 2-2 tie, then the Fort William North Stars hung on the rest of the way to edge the Sabres 3-2 in the opener of their three-game road trip.
“We didn’t capitalize on our chances and their goalie [Patrick Sullivan] made some big saves, especially at the end of the game to keep them in the lead,” Sabres’ head coach Wayne Strachan said. “We needed a lucky break here or there.
“Mitch Cain got a rebound right in the slot and missed a wide-open net, and Carson Dubchak had a nice tip go just over the crossbar, but you have to give it to their goalie, he was the difference,” Strachan added.
The undefeated North Stars (9-0-1) had jumped out to a 2-0 lead, including a short-handed marker by Ryan Magill midway through the first period.
“Our ‘D’ were sleeping on the point, and Magill slipped by them and scored,” Strachan said of the goal.
“But we came back, and carried the play down low especially, cycling the puck on the boards and creating opportunities off that, and they didn’t generate a whole lot of attack against us all game.”
The Sabres (6-5) closed the deficit to one before the first period ended with a power-play goal by Mike Boese. Then Dubchak tied the game with a power-play strike of his own after Patrick Bobczynski’s point shot rang off the post.
But less than a minute later, Ainsworth netted what turned out to be the game-winning goal.
The Sabres outshot the North Stars 41-22 last night, and converted two of their seven power-play chances.
“It wasn’t like we weren’t getting opportunities on the power play, it was just a matter of making smarter decisions,” Strachan stressed. “Trying to force the puck to the net too much, and shots getting blocked.
“We did score both of our goals on it [the power play], but we’d like to get it a few [percentage] points higher,” he added, referring to the team’s current 18.3 percent efficiency.
The Sabres will need to regroup quickly as they face the Thunder Bay Bearcats (10-1-1) there tonight.
“To walk in the room after the game and tell them not to hang their heads, it’s tough because we deserved to win the game,” Strachan remarked. “I just hope with all our efforts last night [Wednesday] that they aren’t a little deflated and come out flat [tonight].
“We would’ve liked six points [on the three-game trip] but four was our goal when we started this, and if we come out and play hard tonight, we’ll give ourselves a good chance.”
The Sabres conclude their three-games-in-three-nights road trip tomorrow against the Dryden Ice Dogs.
