ESPANOLA – The Timmins Rock derailed the Express 5-3 Friday night at the Regional Recreation Complex to move back into fourth place in the NOJHL’s East Division standings.
Seth Reuben scored a pair of goals to power the Rock to the victory that combined with the Hearst Lumberjacks 5-3 loss to the Voodoos in Powassan allowed the former to leapfrog the latter.
By Thomas Perry, The Daily Press (Timmins)
The Rock had to come from behind to earn the victory in the second game of a four-game road trip.
Matthew Reynolds’ third goal of the season gave the Express a 1-0 lead midway through the opening 20 minutes of play.
The Rock battled back to tie things up at the 8:02 mark of the second period when Reuben scored the first of his two goals on the night and fifth of the season.
The Express regained the lead six minutes later, however, when Henry Laukkanen netted his sixth goal of the season.
Reuben’s second goal of the night, and sixth of the season, knotted things up at 2-2 with 3:06 remaining in the middle frame.
Then, with 2:30 remaining on the clock Riley Robitaille’s fourth goal of the season gave the Rock their first lead of the night heading into the dressing room for the second intermission.
It took the Express just 46 seconds of the third period to tie things up at 3-3, however, as Tristan Poissant scored his sixth goal of the season.
The Rock regained the lead for good just 27 seconds later, as Evan Kentish-Stack scored his fifth goal of the season.
A.J. Campbell provided a little insurance when he scored his fourth goal of the season at the 12:43 mark of the final period.
Tyler Masternak turned aside 38 of the 41 shots he faced to earn his fifth victory on the season and third in a Rock uniform.
With the victory, the Rock improved to 14-21-1-2 on the season, while the Express who are in last place in both the West Division standings and overall in the NOJHL, fell to 1-34-1-1
Express goalie Ryan Hale blocked 32 of the 37 shots the Rock fired his way and he was tagged with the loss.
NOJHL NOTES — The three stars of the game were Reuben, Reynolds and Express forward Joel Grandbois (two assists) … The Rock did not dress forward Stewart Parnell (upper-body injury) and defencemen Eric Paquette (lower-body injury) and James Redmond (upper-body injury) … The Rock did not have any power-play opportunities, while the Express went 0-5 with the man advantage … Official attendance at the Regional Recreation Complex was 268 … In other action, the Voodoos defeated the Hearst Lumberjacks 5-3 in Powassan and the Wildcats doubled up the Rayside-Balfour Canadians 4-2 in Elliot Lake … The Rock will continue their four-game road trip with a stop in Elliot Lake Saturday night.
