KIRKLAND LAKE – A Luc Soares goal with 5:50 to go proved to be the game-winner as the Kirkland Lake Gold Miners held on to defeat the Abitibi Eskimos 5-4 Saturday in a Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League match-up held at the Joe Mavrinac Community Complex.
The host Gold Miners picked up the lone tally of the opening frame as Tristen Hazlett notched his sixth of the season at 8:08.
Abitibi countered with the equalizer six minutes into middle stanza courtesy of a Tristan Salesse effort.
The Eskimos then took the lead at 13:54 as Kyle Levis connected on the power play making it 2-1 for the visitors.
Special teams allowed Kirkland Lake to notch the equalizer a minute and a half later when Connor Thie struck during a man advantage.
The Gold Miners went back on top 6:58 into the third when Ryan Aubertin found the back of the net and extended a consecutive game point streak to eight.
Battling back the Eskimos pulled even midway through the third with Jake Holland scoring for a third time in the weekend home-and-home set with Kirkland Lake.
Since joining Abitibi earlier in the month the 19-year-old Holland has amassed 15 points in seven outings for his club.
Tyler Romain and Soares then scored a just over a minute apart to put the home side up a pair.
Ryan Attwood pulled the Eskimos back to within one with 47 seconds remaining, but that’s as close as they would get before time ran out.
Jeremy Picard-Fiset dished out a pair of assists to aid the Gold Miners offensively with Holland having two helpers of his own for Abitibi.
Devon Debastos made 20 saves to pick-up the win while Chet Tooker faced 38 shots in defeat.
