SUDBURY, Ont. – A pair of goals from Brent Pedersen, Dylan Fitze, and Nick Esposto helped the Laurentian Voyageurs charge back from a four-goal deficit and give the Mustangs their first loss of the season at Countryside Arena on Friday night.
Despite dressing a full roster for the first time since opening night, the Mustangs were unable to hold off the Voyageurs once they got going late in the second period.
Peter Delmas was on the losing side of the scoresheet for the first time in his OUA career, stopping 16 of 21 shots.
Western scored a pair in the first period and two more at the midway point of the second to jump out to a 4-0 lead but couldn't hold on through the last 30 minutes. Pedersen netted consecutive goals late in the middle frame, followed quickly by Fitze's first of the night.
Esposto put home the game-tying and game-winning goals with time winding down in the third and Fitze added an empty-netter to seal the deal. Fitze and Pederson led the Voyageurs with three points apiece. Caleb Apperson, Blake Forslund, and Jacob Smith each had a pair of apples.
Trent Ouellette and
Matt Marantz each extended their point streaks to six games to start the season. Ouellette scored Western's first and last goals and Marantz registered a pair of helpers. Rookies
Cole Benson and
Spenser Cobbold were the Mustangs' other goal scorers on the night.
Only one of Western's markers came on the power play, and that was Ouellete's opener. But that turned out to be an accomplishment on a night when the two teams were handed just three infractions apiece. Laurentian was unable to solve Western's penalty killing unit, giving them a power play percentage of 10.3% after they entered at just 11.5%.
The Voyageurs also entered with just a 74.1% penalty kill success rate and were unable to keep Western off the board, so in some senses they stuck to their early-season trends. Yet, for a team that had scored just 1.60 goals per game entering Friday night's matchup, Laurentian also shocked the Canadian University hockey world by tickling the twine six consecutive times.
Western won't have much time to think on the loss, as they turn around for a 7 p.m. road matchup against the Nipissing Lakers tomorrow night. The Lakers are coming in fresh off of a heartbreaking 3-2 double overtime loss against the Guelph Gryphons on Friday night, meaning both teams are looking to rebound when they take to the ice at Memorial Gardens in North Bay.
NOTES: Western is now first in the OUA with at 95.2% on the penalty kill, having given up just one power play goal through six games… The Mustangs outshot the Voyageurs 32-21. It's the fifth time this season that they've outshot their opponents. Incredibly, Western's 35.2 shots-per-game is good enough for just 12th in the entire league… Marantz is tied for third in the OUA with eight assists…
