ESPANOLA, Ont. – Striking six times on the power play, the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League front-running Greater Sudbury Cubs went on to dismantle the Espanola Paper Kings 9-0 Saturday in a one-sided result at the Regional Recreation Complex.
After a scoreless first period, Greater Sudbury broke the deadlock with a pair of tallies midway through the second stanza to gain the upper hand.
Alexandre Valade got the Cubs going by cranking in a one-timer off a nice feed from Nolan Newton.
The crafty assist for Newton now gives him points, dating back to last season, in his last 12 outings.
Special teams then clicked for the visitors at 11:15 when Samuel Assinewai banged in his 17th, during five-on-three as took a cross-ice pass from Lucas Signoretti and promptly wired it past Espanola netminder Connor Hatfield from the right circle.
The tally sees Assinewai extend a point streak to 10 in succession.
A late man advantage saw Assinewai notch another as he clicked at 19:16 by driving hard to the net on the left side and finishing off a crisp Signoretti set-up.
Moving to the final frame, Greater Sudbury exploded for six tallies, including four while up skaters, to win going away.
Noah Kohan had two of the markers for the guests, while Newton, Mason Walker, Daks Klinkhammer and Mateo Signoretti also found the back of the net.
Klinkhammer has now scored in five straight outings while collecting points in seven in a row.
Noah Beaulne posted his third shutout of the season, which tops all NOJHL netminders.
Winning their eighth consecutive NOJHL contest, the Cubs improved to 22-2-1-1 overall.
Espanola has now dropped sixth straight games in falling to 8-14-2-0.
