A three-game road trip opened on a positive note for the Soo Thunderbirds on Friday night.
The Thunderbirds scored once in each period in a 3-1 Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League victory over the Kirkland Lake Gold Miners at the Joe Mavrinac Commuinity Complex in Kirkland Lake.
Michael Chaffay and Cooper Foster paced the Thunderbirds offensively with a pair of points each in the win with Chaffay picking up a goal and an assist while Foster assisted on a pair of goals.
The Thunderbirds opened the scoring just 16 seconds into the contest when Kelsey Ouellet beat Gold Miners goaltender Keaton Lyons high glove side through traffic from the top of the left circle for his 10th goal of the season.
Kirkland Lake got on the board early in the second period when Jacob Hintz got the puck moments after a defensive zone turnover by the Thunderbirds and beat Sault goaltender Noah Metivier stick side at 3:53.
Kenny Belanger Jr. put the Thunderbirds ahead at 17:56 of the middle period when he redirected a pass from Ethan Novello shortly after a faceoff win deep in the Gold Miners zone.
Chaffay sealed the win for the Thunderbirds with the visitors on a two-man advantage in the third period.
Chaffay took a cross-ice pass from Foster and beat Lyons with 4:37 to go in the contest to seal the win for the Thunderbirds.
With the win, the Thunderbirds improve to 26-5-2-3 and hold a 10-point edge over the Soo (Mich.) Eagles in the NOJHL's West Division. The team also clinched a playoff spot in the process.
Kirkland Lake falls to 11-24-0-3 with the loss.
The Thunderbirds will take a six-game winning streak into action on Saturday night on the road against the Powassan Voodoos.