BLIND RIVER, Ont. – The Elliot Lake Wildcats clawed their was back from a three-goal deficit in regulation then completed the comeback by winning 4-3 vs. the Blind River Beavers, in a shootout, Saturday evening in a Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League contest at the Blind River Community Centre.
First period play saw Blind River notch the lone tally of the session as Nash Hatcher collected his 10th goal of the season, which came at 12:07.
Picking up a power play in the second stanza, the Beavers went up by a pair when Brendan Young buried his 21st of 2018-19 at 6:24.
It was more Blind River later in the frame as Ryan Mulligan’s 13th put them up by three.
Elliot Lake did get one back before the period was complete when Caleb Minns scored on the power play at 15:41.
The Wildcats then pulled to within one two minutes into the third on Jayden Parnell’s fourth of the campaign.
Continuing to press, Elliot Lake picked up another to tie it as Connor Taylor scored for a 17th time with Chris Pedersen collecting his second straight assist.
From there, the remainder of the third as well as the five-minute overtime went scoreless sending it to the shootout to decide a winner.
In the extra shots, Caleb Minns collected the only marker for the Wildcats as they capped off their comeback victory.
Dominic Boily in the Elliot Lake net finished with 57 stops, plus all three he faced in the shootout, to pick-up a well-deserved win.
Beavers’ starter Garret Boyonoski finished with 34 saves in defeat in which Blind River earned a point in defeat.
Game Photos courtesy of Chrystal Serré