ESPANOLA, Ont. – Brady Maltais and Justin Janowski had a goal and an assist in helping lift the Rayside-Balfour Canadians over the Espanola Express 4-2 in a Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League contest Friday at the Regional Recreation Complex.
The Canadians clicked early to get the jump on the Express with Gabriel Rheault scoring on the power play 4:40 into the contest for his 10th tally of the season.
Janowski added to the visitors lead at 8:05 with his sixth of the campaign.
Espanola did cut into the deficit with a man advantage effort of their own late in the frame thanks to Makenzie MacMillan’s 11th at 18:31.
Maltais then supplied the eventual difference maker early in the middle stanza.
Battling back, the Express drew closer at 11:46 on Matthew Reynolds seventh overall to make it 3-2.
However the visitors added one more before the frame was complete off the stick of rookie forward Baldino Aiello, who notched his 12th goal to round out the scoring.
Rayside-Balfour starter Jean-Marc Brisson finished with 31 saves to pick-up the win while Brayden Lachance didn’t see any shots in a brief relief stint.
Ryan Hale started for Espanola and suffered the setback while making 31 stops along the way.
The win kept Rayside-Balfour on pace with the Soo Thunderbirds as the two clubs remain tied for first place in the NOJHL’s West Division.