ESPANOLA, Ont. – A five-goal, third-period barrage helped Espanola Paper Kings rally past the Hearst Lumberjacks 8-6 in a Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League match-up Friday at the Regional Recreation Complex.
An early offensive outburst, seven minutes into the contest, saw each side score twice in rapid succession.
Hearst began the salvo when Liam Boswell won a race around the net and stuffed the puck into the open side at 7:04.
The Lumberjacks came right back and notched another moments later as Jason Twoindo snapped a shot past the blocker of Paper Kings’ starter Jake Marois.
After an Espanola timeout to settle things down, they answered right off the draw with Kyle den Ouden burying a behind the net feed from between the hash marks.
Not done there, the home side tied it 25 seconds after that on a Owen Fergusson effort as he roofed a cross-ice pass courtesy of Spencer Horgan on netminder Russ Decoste.
A third-straight Paper Kings marker came late in the frame after they forced a turnover in the Hearst end and saw Atley Gringorten finish it off at 19:04.
It was more from Twoindo in the middle frame, as ne notched his second of the night as he finished off a scramble in front by lifting one over a diving Marois.
A tally-filled third period featured eight markers in total with four of the final five supplied by Espanola.
Julien Trudel put Hearst back into the lead at 5:33 as he whipped one by Marois from the right of the net.
Down a skater, the home side drew level halfway through the session, while shorthanded, compliments of Dario Sacino who completed a strong forecheck from teammate Fergusson.
Still on the power play though, the visitors regained the lead at 9:56 on a man advantage effort from Damien Bourdon Lemoyne, who banked one in from a sharp angle.
The back and forth affair continued with the Paper Kings’ Spencer Horgan striking twice, just over a minute apart, to make it 6-5 Espanola.
After Tyler Patterson knotted the score once more for the guests, Jack Lynes and Grant Booth countered for Espanola to finish off the high-scoring affair.
