IROQUOIS FALLS, Ont. – The Kirkland Lake Gold Miners got two tallies apiece from Ryan Swain and Luc Soares en route to a 6-1 triumph over the Abitibi Eskimos Saturday evening in Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League preseason play at Jus Jordan Arena.
A night after Abitibi spoiled Kirkland Lake’s exhibition debut with a 6-5 triumph, it was all Gold Miners in this one as they won going away.
Swain gave the visitors the early lead with his first of the contest midway through the opening period.
Joel Fortin added another for the visitors at 12:53 to put them up a pair after 20 minutes.
Kirkland Lake tacked on three more efforts in the middle session on markers Nicholas Hautanen, Soares and Swain.
A Soares man advantage effort, seven minutes into the third, made it 6-0 before Ryan Attwood dashed the Kirkland Lake shutout bid with three and a half minutes to go.
Steven Babin chipped in with a pair of assists to aid the Gold Miners cause.
Devon Debastos and Kenny Fitzgerald combined to make 25 saves on sharing the shutout.
Chet Tooker started for the Eskimos and allowed three against on 20 attempts in 31 minutes of work while Alex Chandler turned aside 16 of 19 in relief.
NOJHL preseason action resumes Wednesday as Cochrane visits Powassan for a 2:30 p.m. matinee Wednesday while the Eskimos and Gold Miners kick off another home-and-home set at 7:30 p.m. back at Jus Jordan Arena.
