The Kirkland Lake Gold Miners came back from a one-goal deficit in the third period by striking four times to defeat the Powassan Voodoos 4-1 in a battle of Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League East Division leaders Wednesday at Joe Mavrinac Community Complex.
It was the visiting Voodoos who opened the night’s scoring 11 and a half minutes into the contest as Tomas Yachmenev collected his 15th goal of the season.
As expected, it remained tight-checking through the second stanza that went scoreless as Powassan carried the slim lead into the third period.
The Voodoos, who were 9-0 when leading after two periods, saw the Gold Miners break that run in the final frame, as they started their rally early when Noah Cauchi cashed in to tie it 23 seconds into the frame as he finished off the work of teammates Alex Elie and Gabriel LeBlanc.
Seconds after a two-man advantage had expired, Kirkland Lake got the decider via the power play from Elie with 6:02 left in regulation.
They then picked up some insurance 43 seconds later on a Hunter Foreshew effort as he notched his sixth marker of the season before Sam Ellwood completed the comeback in the last minute with an empty net effort to secure the decision.
LeBlanc finished with two assists in the triumph for the home side.
Gregory Brassard made 38 stops to record the win for the Gold Miners while Joe Vrbetic faced 21 attempts in defeat for Powassan.
The outcome sees Kirkland Lake improve to 19-8-1-0 on the year and move back into top spot overall in the NOJHL standings two points ahead of the Voodoos who slipped to 18-9-1-0 and one point up on the idle Soo Thunderbirds.
Earlier in the day, the Voodoos made a trade with the Gold Miners as the Voodoos acquired forward Max Newnam in exchange for a development fee. The 19-year-old Maryland native had 12 goals and 8 assists for 20 points in 21 games this season with the Miners.
Newnam did not play Wednesday night as he is sitting the first of four games for a hitting-from-behind infraction suspension he was assessed earlier in the week due to a hit in a game in Elliot Lake on the weekend.
