THUNDER BAY – It was a tale of two teams heading in the opposite direction.
The Red Lake Miners, on the one hand, had won nine in a row heading into Thursday night's rematch with the Thunder Bay North Stars.
The Stars, on the other, had lost four in a row and were looking to regain some sort of momentum with home-ice advantage at Fort William Gardens.
Both streaks continued unabated.
The Miners broke open a 1-1 game with a pair of second-period goals and went on to defeat the North Stars for the second straight night, following up Wednesday night's 8-6 thrill ride with a more conventional 4-2 triumph.
Elliott Parker scored both the go-ahead goal and the follow-up marker, that proved to be the eventual game-winner, beating Thunder Bay goaltender Jordan Smith at the 5:47 and 18:01 marks of the middle stanza.
“It goes more than just the second period,” said Parker, a fourth-line grinder who picked up his seventh and eighth goals of the campaign for the Campbellton, N.B. native.
“I thought we played a great two-game set. We could improve on a couple of things, but we had a lot of different guys step up this week – obviously (Ryan) Hunter yesterday. I had a decent game myself today, but we had a lot of different guys who contributed to that. Also, our goalie Jaxson (Taupert) played a great game and made a lot of big saves down the stretch. Another two points and our 20th win on the season feels good too.”
The North Stars struck first for the second straight night, Lou Vesperini netting his 11th of the season on a breakaway just 79 seconds into the contest.
But Jordan Baranesky tied things up at the 17:56 mark of the first and Parker scored twice in the second, one-timing a pass from Hunter for his first of the night and burying a pass from behind the goal-line from Nic Bolin for his second.
William Demkiw pulled the North Stars within one midway through the third, ripping a wrist shot past Taupert, but down a goal with a late power play, the home side couldn’t convert with the extra man and Bolin banked the puck off teammate Mathieu Harrold with 1:11 to play in regulation, with Smith on the bench.
Thunder Bay coach Rob DeGagne, returning to the bench after serving a one-game suspension in Wednesday’s 8-6 loss, said his team just didn’t get enough quality chances to put the puck past Taupert.
“Definitely I thought our game tonight was pretty good. It could have gone either way. They got a bounce. We just don’t seem to be getting the breaks that sometimes you get. We had lots of guys out. We have guys hurt. We’ve got guys suspended, that are keys to our team too, to make us roll,” DeGagne said.
“We’ve got to be firing on all cylinders to beat some of the teams in this league.”
DeGagne, whose team is locked into fourth place in the Superior International Junior Hockey League standings, at 15-12-3, but could still make a charge for third, just four points behind the idle Dryden Ice Dogs.
However, DeGagne said he’s not too concerned about where they finish at this point. It’s how they finish that matters.
“We’re trying to build momentum to be ready for the playoffs. If we lose some games, we lose some games. I’m not worried about losing games, as long as we’re playing the right way. We’ve got a lot of young guys and we’ve got a lot of guys who have never played together before.”
Thunder Bay travels to Fort Frances for games on Friday and Saturday night. Red Lake (20-3-2) hosts Wisconsin on Saturday and Sunday.
FIRST PERIOD
Scoring: 1. Thunder Bay, Vesperini (Broughton) 1:19. 2. Red Lake, Baranesky (Nyman, Moisey) 17:56. Penalties: Nelson TB (goaltender interference) 12:41, Pool RLM (high sticking) 19:40.
SECOND PERIOD\
Scoring: 3. Red Lake, E. Parker (Hunter, Nyman) 5:47. 4. Red Lake, E. Parker (Bolin) 18:01. Penalties: Kuzenko TB (unsportsmanlike conduct) 9:40.
THIRD PERIOD
Scoring: 5. Thunder Bay, Demkiw (unassisted) 10:23 pp. 6. Red Lake, Harrold (Bolin) 18:49 en. Penalties: E. Parker RLM, Broughton TB (roughing) 7:02, Darmenov RLM (high sticking) 8:35, Harroun RLM (high sticking) 11:04, Trahiotis TB (boarding) 19:00.
GAME DATA – SOG – Red Lake 15-12-10-37, Thunder Bay 14-10-11-35; Power plays (goals-chances) – Red Lake (0-2), Thunder Bay (1-2); Goaltenders – Red Lake: Jaxson Taupert, Thunder Bay: Jordan Smith; A: 242.
