A pair of power play goals helped the Soo Thunderbirds to a first period lead on Saturday night as the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League clubs picked up a win on the road against the Powassan Voodoos.
Goals on the man advantage helped the Thunderbirds to a 2-0 lead in the opening period en route to a 3-1 win over the Voodoos at the Powassan Sportsplex.
Cooper Foster opened the scoring for the Thunderbirds midway through the opening period on when he beat Voodoos netminder Alex Bugeja from the left faceoff circle high short side at 10:06.
Kelsey Ouellet made it 2-0 just over five minutes later when he jumped on a rebound in the slot after Andrew Gibson’s initial point shot was stopped on the play.
Powassan would get on the board just 2:53 into the middle frame when he took a shot from the right faceoff circle that found its way through traffic and past Thunderbirds netminder Noah Zeppa.
Foster capped off the scoring 29 seconds into the third period when he beat Bugeja with a shot from the slot high glove side.
Ouellet finished the night with three points thanks to a pair of assists in addition to his power play goal.
Brock Santa Maria also had a pair of assists for the Thunderbirds.
Zeppa finished the night with 15 saves.
Bugeja made 27 saves for Powassan.
With the win, the Thunderbirds have won seven straight games and nine of their last 10.
The Thunderbirds improve to 27-5-2-2 and remain 10 points up on the Soo (Mich.) Eagles atop the NOJHL’s West Division.
Powassan, currently in a battle with the Hearst Lumberjacks and Timmins Rock for top spot in the East Division, has lost three straight and currently hold a record of 25-10-4-1.
The Thunderbirds return to action Sunday as the team wraps up a three-game road trip against the French River Rapids.