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Things continue to roll for the Soo Thunderbirds.
After three losses to start the season, including one in a shootout, the Thunderbirds have now won three consecutive games following a 5-2 Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League victory over the Espanola Express on Thursday night at the John Rhodes Community Centre.
Defenceman Jacob Doucette paced the Thunderbirds with two goals and an assist in the victory.
Doucette opened the scoring 2:45 into the contest as he beat Espanola goaltender Owen Willis with a point shot through traffic.
The blueliner scored his second of the night midway through the second period when he beat Willis with a shot from the top of the left circle through a screen by Avery Rebek in close.
The goal came after Espanola had scored a pair of goals to cut a 3-0 Thunderbirds lead to 3-2.
Thunderbirds coach Denny Lambert spoke of Doucette showing continual improvement early on this season for the Thunderbirds.
“He’s pushing other players for more ice time and that’s great to have that internal competition going on,” Lambert said. “He gets pucks to the net and he gets rewarded. I’m glad he got rewarded for his hard work.
Rebek, Ty Zachary, and Dylan Parsons had the other goals for the Thunderbirds.
Zachary scored in the opening period on a feed from Cooper Smyl in close to make it 2-0 while Rebek scored 98 seconds into the second period. After a neutral zone turnover near the Espanola blueline, Rebek went in on a 2-on-0 and redirected a feed from Caleb Wood to make it 3-0.
Parsons scored into an empty net with 1:35 to go n the contest.
“We played well again and I’m happy with the way we played,” Lambert said. “We maybe got a little bit tired and weren’t as aggressive as we would like to be. We did a great job of staying in the game and getting that next goal. Overall, I give the boys credit for sticking with it and being able to finish off.”
“It’s a tough way to play for 60 minutes,” Lambert said of the Thunderbirds style. “You’re going to have lapses. The thing is, you want the lapses to be very small.”
Bradley Brunet and Cameron Walker scored for Espanola.
Brunet got the Express on the board just over five minutes into the second period when he beat Thunderbirds goaltender Alex Bugeja glove side from the left faceoff circle.
Walker then cut the lead to 3-2 just over two minutes later, beating Bugeja from a sharp angle on the right side at 7:40 of the period.
Bugeja made 41 saves for the Thunderbirds in Thursday’s victory.
Lambert credited the play of both Bugeja and Scott Young this season for the club.
“The whole team has been good, but when they’re needed to step up, they’ve been able to shut the door and keep us in there when the other team starts gaining some momentum,” Lambert said. “The goaltenders settle it down for us and make big saves.”
Meanwhile, Willis made 36 saves for Espanola.
The two teams return to action on Saturday afternoon in Espanola in a 2 p.m. puck drop.