Timmins Rock forward Alexis Tremblay looks to the clock as he leads his teammates to the bench in celebration of his first of two goals on the night during the second period of Thursday night’s NOJHL contest at the McIntyre Arena. Joining him are, from left, Travis Poan, Kai Clayton, Matthew Kim and Ayden Trottier. Tremblay’s two goals helped the Rock defeat the Eagles 4-1. THOMAS PERRY/THE DAILY PRESS jpg, TD, apsmc
Alexis Tremblay scored two goals in the span of 17 seconds to help lead the Timmins Rock to a 4-1 win over the Soo Eagles at the McIntyre Arena, Thursday night.
Thomas Perry
The Daily Press/Postmedia Network
It was the proverbial four-point game in the battle for fourth spot in the NOJHL standings. Following the victory, the Rock (29-14-0-0) and the Eagles (28-13-0-2) each have 58 points — three points behind the third place Blind River Beavers (29-12-1-2) and 11 up on the Soo Thunderbirds (22-20-1-2).
Thursday night’s contest had originally been scheduled for Sunday afternoon, but it was moved up to accommodate the Mushkegowuk Cup.
Even so, an issue with the ice resurfacing machine between the warmups and the first period resulted in a slight delay in the start of the game.
It didn’t slow down the Rock, however, as they jumped out to a 1-0 first period lead on Thomas Beard’s power-play marker, his 13th goal of the season, 3:35 into the opening period.
The Rock outshot the Eagles 10-5 in the frame, but they had to settle for that one-goal advantage heading into the first intermission.
Tremblay netted a power-play marker, his 11th goal of the campaign, 3:19 into the middle frame. That tally would stand up to be the game-winner.
“(Kai) Clayton won the face-off and I slid to the middle, I was the bumper in front of the net,” Tremblay said.
“I just tipped the point shot (from Elijah Pool).”
And, 17 seconds later, he added an even-strength maker, his second goal of the night and 12th of the season, to put the Rock in front 3-0.
“It was great, it doesn’t always happen that way,” Tremblay said, explaining his surprise at netting two goals in such rapid fashion. “I was pretty happy.”
The play developed quickly, with the Rock breaking out of their own zone.
“I slashed through the defense and (Travis) Poan got me the puck, chipped it up to me and I put it in the net, five-hole,” Tremblay said.
Lucas Lowe then added another power-play marker, his 17th goal of the season, to increase the Rock advantage.
The Eagles finally got on the scoreboard just over a minute later, as Coulson Bell scored his fourth goal of the campaign to cut into the Rock lead.
That would be as close as the Eagles would come to getting back on ever terms, however, as neither team was able to find the back of the net during a scoreless third period.
While Tremblay was happy to net a pair of goals to help the Rock win, he was even more pleased with being able to contribute on the penalty kill.
“It (penalty kill) is a big part of my game,” he said. “I love playing on the PK.”
Rock coach and general manager Brandon Perry was happy to see his squad add to its win total, but admitted there was room for improvement.
“I didn’t like our first period,” he said. “We were just too loose in the D Zone, skating by pucks, not stopping on them, losing coverage.
“We got going in the second period a little bit, but we can always be cleaner. Still, it was a big win for us.”
The fact the Rock and Eagles are neck-and-neck in the standings did not escape Perry.
“This was a big one for us against a team we are probably going to play in the first round of the playoffs,” he said.
“They were missing a bunch of guys and I am sure they will give us a better effort when we play them down there at the end of the year (March 8). They are a really good team and they work extremely hard.”
The coach agreed Thursday night’s contest might have been Tremblay’s best game in a Rock uniform, on both sides of the puck.
“He was outstanding and played with a ton of pace,” Perry said. “He was really good on the penalty kill and got those two goals. He was really good tonight.”
Overall, the coach also liked what he saw from the Rock’s special teams Thursday night, although he thought the power play could have been more effective early on in the contest.
“I didn’t like the first period, a couple of power plays there, obviously, we weren’t getting anything done,” Perry said.
“On the one, we couldn’t even break out of our own zone. Then, in the second period, we got rolling and started executing. Our penalty kill was great again tonight.”
While the coach chose not to single out any other players for extra praise, it wasn’t because they played poorly.
“Everybody played solid,” Perry said. “Nobody was great, but everybody gave us a good effort. It was a good team win.”
The only downside to the victory is the Rock lost blue-liner Ayden Trottier to an upper-body injury during the contest.
“It’s probably going to keep him out for a little bit,” Perry said. “He is probably week-to-week at this point.”
Rock goalie Dryden Riley stopped 23 of the 24 shots he faced to earn his NOJHL-leading 19th win of the season.
Eagles goalie Jace Knoerle, who turned aside 28 of the 32 shots the Rock directed his way, was tagged with the loss.
NOJHL NOTES — The Daily Press three stars of the game were Tremblay, Rock blue-liner Tenzin Nyman (two assists) and Beard … The Rock went 3-5 on the power play, while the Eagles were 0-6 with the man advantage … Official attendance at the McIntyre Arena was 702 … Thursday’s only other action saw the Cubs overcome a four-goal deficit to thump the Blind River Beavers 9-6 in Greater Sudbury … The Rock will return to action on Monday when they host the Hearst Lumberjacks at the McIntyre Arena, at 2 p.m.
