GALLERY: Kirkland Lake narrows gap in race for 1st in East with narrow win in Hearst

HEARST, Ont. – Joshua Maine collected the only goal of the night, early in the second period, while Gregory Brassard turned aside all 38 shots he faced to post a shutout as the Kirkland Lake Gold Miners blanked the Hearst Lumberjacks 1-0 in a hotly-contested Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League match-up Friday in front of 889 spectators at Claude Larose Arena.

After a scoreless opening 20 minutes, the visiting Gold Miners broke the deadlock 2:21 into the second stanza as Maine collected his 13th marker of the campaign with help from Blake Bonnar.

Brassard did the rest in registering his second shutout of the season.

Hearst netminder Nicholas Tallarico finished with 21 saves in the narrow defeat.

With the outcome, Kirkland Lake improves to 32-16-3-3 on the season as their 70 points overall puts them just one behind the now 32-16-6-1 Lumberjacks in the race for first place in the NOJHL’s East Division.

The Gold Miners have two games remaining in the regular season while Hearst has just one.

Game Photos courtesy of  Highway Eleven &Co.