The Powassan Voodoos capped off a three-game road trip by defeating the Iroquois Falls Eskis 7-3 to win their 17th consecutive Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League contest Sunday afternoon at Jus Jordan Arena.
A night after having a 20-game point streak snapped, Gary Mantz returned to form offensively for the Voodoos by scoring once and doling out three assists in the triumph.
The victory was sweet for Voodoos Head Coach Scott Wray who saw his team dump the Crunch 6-1 Friday night, defeat the Timmins Rock on Hometown Hockey Night 4-3 in double OT and then finished it off with a convincing win over the Eskis.
"We are obviously happy the way the weekend worked out for us," said Wray.
"The guys played in three tough road buildings and came out with six points. After last nights emotional win, todays game could have gone either way. Today's game was tied two two going into the third but the guys found a way to dig deep into the tanks and pull away for the win. After playing three games in two and a half days they sure showed no signs of wearing down."
Each side would tally once on the power play in the first period with Andy Baker connecting for Powassan before Josh Dejulio countered for Iroquois Falls.
Second stanza action saw the two sides add one apiece again as Baker notched his second man advantage effort of the day for the visitors at 8:24 while Phil Caron tied it at even strength for the home side three and a half minutes later.
The Voodoos would break the game open in the final frame outscoring the Eskis 5-1 to win going away.
Four goals in a span of 16 minutes and 17 seconds sent Powassan on their way with Gabriel Rheault and Kyle Challis scoring at even strength while Mantz struck shorthanded and Tyson Gilmour had one on the power play.
Alex Mitsionis got one back for Iroquois Falls midway through the third before Cade Herd rounded out the scoring for the Voodoos with 8:59 to go.
Dayton Murray dished out three assists for Powassan while teammate Eric Nagy had two.
Nicholas Campbell made 12 saves to record the win for the Voodoos.
Artem Bortovskiy started for the Eskis and suffered the loss facing 58 shots in defeat.
The Voodoos have yet another busy road weekend as they play three-in-three on the road next weekend starting next Friday in Kirkland Lake.
