SAULT STE. MARIE, Mich. – A pair of third period tallies broke open a tie game as the Hearst Lumberjacks went on to double up the Soo Eagles 4-2 in a Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League contest Friday at Pullar Stadium.
Needing just 16 seconds to notch the night’s opening goal, Hearst’s Tyler Patterson put his team in front as he picked off a pass attempt by an Eagles defender and fired a shot that was initially stopped by Logan Raffaele, but he was right there to jam in the rebound.
The Lumberjacks added another off a faceoff win by Riley Klugerman that allowed Emile Pichette to skate to the slot where he fired a shot that beat Raffaele low glove side.
With the assist, Klugerman extended a consecutive game point streak to nine straight outings.
Getting one back before the intermission, Eagles’ captain Jack Mortson scored with just eight seconds remaining as he benefitted from a giveaway that let him blast one past a surprised Hearst netminder Ethan Dinsdale.
Action in the second period saw the Soo draw level with another late marker as Michael Szlag finished off a two-on-one with Alex Freund at 17:45.
Tied 2-2 into the final frame, the Lumberjacks regained the lead with 6:50 to go when Patterson won a race to the puck laying at the end boards and proceeded to backhand it back to Nicholas Jermolenko in the left circle where he buried the game-winner past a partially screened Soo netminder.
Adding some insurance a couple of shifts later, Hearst defenceman Adam Shillinglaw connected with his side up a skater as he pinched in a took a perfect pass from Andrew Morton and buried it into the open corner.
The win was a third straight for the Lumberjacks who improved to a NOJHL East Division-leading 9-3-0-0 on the season.
In defeat, the Eagles dropped to 6-4-0-0 overall.
