KIRKLAND LAKE, Ont. – A four-goal first period was more than enough for the Kirkland Lake Gold Miners as they skated past the Rayside-Balfour Canadians 5-2 Saturday evening in a Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League contest at the Joe Mavrinac Community Complex.
It was scoreless for the first 13 minutes of the game before the Gold Miners struck four times in quick succession to take early control.
Jamey Lauzon put the home side up at 13:19 of the frame while Dalton Anderson added to that just 39 seconds later.
Cory Bussing’s initial NOJHL tally made it 3-0 a couple shifts after that with Maxime Choquette adding to the offensive onslaught in the final minute.
In the second, Logan Fredericks made it 5-0 Gold Miners with the lone tally of the middle session.
Rayside-Balfour got one via the power play in the third as Ryan Erickson put an end to Kirkland Lake goaltender Marc Audet’s shutout bid with 8:22 to go.
The Canadians added one more in the late going from Brett Whitehead, during a man advantage, to round out the night’s scoring.
Evan Bidenti doled out a pair of assists to aid the winners cause.
Audet finished with 25 saves in registering the win for Kirkland Lake.
Kevin Labelle faced 25 shots in the loss for Rayside-Balfour
