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Special teams went a long way in determining the winner of Sunday afternoon’s COVID Cup opener between the Soo Thunderbirds and Blind River Beavers.
The Thunderbirds scored five times on the power play and added another shorthanded in an 8-4 Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League victory Sunday at the John Rhodes Community Centre.
The game was the first in the seven-game COVID Cup that will see the two teams wrap up the season.
The Thunderbirds finished the day 5-for-10 on the power play, which included a pair of goals on the man advantage late in the second period that helped the team break the game open.
“That’s what helped us take over the game,” Lambert said. “Us keeping our discipline allowed us to get the power plays and the power play went to work.
“Power plays and penalty killing are humungous factors in today’s game and they came through for us,” Lambert added.
Lambert also credited his team for staying disciplined, specifically when Blind River got into penalty trouble in the second half of the game.
“We stayed disciplined, which is a factor in this series because of how many times we’ve played them,” Lambert said. “Everybody is playing with a short fuse because of seeing each other all year long. Everybody is determined to win and it’s just high emotion out there right now.”
The teams traded goals in the opening period.
Thomas Michaud opened the scoring for Blind River 7:32 into the contest, but the Thunderbirds got a last-second power play goal by Caleb Wood to send the game into the second period tied at two.
Lucas Adams put Blind River ahead 4:05 into the second period when he beat Thunderbirds goaltender Alex Bugeja with a shot from the top of the left circle glove side to make it 2-1 Beavers.
With the Thunderbirds shorthanded, Parker Morgan scored his first of two goals on the day at 13:27 of the second period when he moved into the Blind River zone, split a pair of Beavers defenders and then beat Disano in close to tie the game.
The Beavers bounced back as Milos Todorovic restored the lead 23 seconds later on a shot from the right circle high short side on Bugeja.
The Thunderbirds would ultimately head into the third period with the lead thanks to a pair of power play goals by defenceman Cam Dutkiewicz in the final minute of the period.
Dutkiewicz tied the game at three with 53.4 seconds to go in the period as he beat Disano with a shot from the top of the left circle glove side and then proceeded to give the home team the lead when he scored on a loose puck in the crease as time expired to send the game into the third with the Thunderbirds leading 4-3.
Dutkiewicz’s second goal came with the Thunderbirds up two men.
Cooper Smyl extended the lead in the opening minute of the third when he scored on a continued 5-on-3 for the Thunderbirds 50 seconds into the frame.
Morgan got his second of the night 3:10 later, also on the power play to give the locals a 6-3 lead.
Michaud got one back for the Beavers, but even strength goals by Avery Rebek and Noah Boman 18 seconds apart in the late stages of the period sealed the win for the Thunderbirds.
Dutkiewicz finished the night with four points as he chipped in with a pair of assists in the win.
Michael Chaffay also had a four-point night for the Thunderbirds with four assists.
Wood and Rebek had a goal and an assist each and Brock Santa Maria and Jacob Doucette assisted on a pair of goals each for the Thunderbirds.
Offensively, 11 players had at least one point for the Thunderbirds in the win.
“It’s really nice to have when you have it spread out because when you look down the bench, your decision-making is pretty easy because you feel comfortable with putting anybody out on the ice,” Lambert said.
Bugeja finished the night with 37 saves for the Thunderbirds.
“Alex is a battler, which I love about him,” Lambert said. “He doesn’t stop competing. He’s very involved in the game. He’s very quick. He has very good agility. He always comes up with some really big saves for us and you need that. We rely heavily on him and he played a really good game tonight.”
Disano made 32 stops for Blind River.
The series between the two clubs resumes on Thursday night in a 7 p.m. start at the John Rhodes Community Centre.