ESPANOLA, Ont. – A big night on special teams saw the Espanola Paper Kings connect five times on the power play and once while down a man to propel them to an 8-2 win over the French River Rapids in a Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League matchup Saturday at the Regional Recreation Complex.
Striking shorthanded early, Espanola’s Owen Smith took a cross-ice pass from Emerson De Giacomo and whipped it past French River netminder Ethan Madden for his 15th tally of the season, which came 2:50 into the proceedings.
That gives the NOJHL’s rookie scoring leader points in four straight outings in collecting his 36th overall on the marker.
Another special teams’ effort saw Smith convert on a Paper Kings’ power play when he was set-up by Carter Drigo and moved in where he lifted in a rising backhand.
Wyatt Farries then upped the Espanola lead at 11:29 as he whipped one from the top of the left circle that got through Madden.
That resulted in a goaltending change for the Rapids as Matis Bureau-Morel entered in relief.
Moving to the middle frame, with Madden back in net for French River, Joseph Coates reached the 20-goal plateau on the campaign with the hosts up a skater as he swatted in a pass from behind the net courtesy of Drigo.
The Rapids eventually solved Paper Kings’ goalkeeper Carter Arnold, who was making his first NOJHL debut, at 13:06 as Tristen Kitchen finished off a crisp give-and-go with teammate Jacob Cantin by stuffing in his 12th overall into an open left side of the net.
Another extra-man effort off the stick of Coates made it 5-1 when he quickly pumped in a down-low feed from Smith.
More from the Espanola power play saw just acquired forward Levi Lux redirect in a Farries point shot while parked in front to extend the cushion through two periods.
De Giacomo, with a tip in that saw Bureau-Morel come back in net, and Kitchen, who spun in close and connected to trade early even strength tallies in the third, saw the score go to 7-2.
Notching one more power play marker, Zachary Grahn picked up his initial league tally to finish off the result.
The win for Espanola was their 20th of the season.
