Powassan Voodoos goaltender Nate McDonald stopped all 26 shots he faced to register his Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League-leading second shutout of the season as he backstopped his club to a 4-0 victory over the Kirkland Lake Gold Miners Friday night at the Joe Mavrinac Community Complex.
A tight-checking opening 20 minutes saw no side score, with netminders McDonald of Powassan and Kirkland Lake’s Victor-Olivier Courchesne, handling each of the shots they faced in the stanza.
A Voodoos power play saw them take the lead six and a half minutes into the middle session when Battalion prospect Andy Baker buried his fourth of the season to put the visitors in front.
Powassan then went up by a pair late in period as Gabriel Rheault collected his first of the campaign at 17:50 as the visitors took a 2-0 lead into the third.
The Voodoos got some insurance 8:18 into the final frame when Parker Bowman picked up his second of 2016-17 to extend his club’s cushion.
The visitors then sealed the win on a Cameron Moore effort with 31 seconds to go to round things out.
Voodoos head coach Scott Wray was impressed with the effort from start to finish.
"The boys played a full sixty minutes tonight," said Wray.
Coach Wray admitted the team focussed on defence this week after dropping a 7-6 OT decision at home on Sunday night.
"We stuck to our game plan the entire night. After the Timmins game we stripped down our D zone to the studs. The guys really bought in to our D zone tonight and with that Nate McDonald enjoyed a shut out!"
Courchesne faced 26 attempts in defeat for the Gold Miners.
The win improves the Vodooos record on the season to 5-2-0-1 on the season.
The Voodoos return home Monday night when they face the French River Rapids. Puck drop is set for 7:30 p.m. at the Powassan Sportsplex.