FRENCH RIVER – A Daniel Sisu goal, 68 seconds into overtime, helped the Kirkland Lake Gold Miners complete a 3-2 come from behind victory versus the French River Rapids Friday in a Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League match-up at Noelville Arena.
The hometown Rapids clicked first, nearly seven minutes in, when Jonah Gareau knocked down a clearing attempt out of mid-air then fed Bryson Villeneuve, who fired one low from a sharp angle that got under Gold Miners’ starter Glen McInnes for his fifth of the campaign.
Still 1-0 French River into the second stanza, the home side extended their lead at 13:28 when Jeremy Clark heaved a dump in into Kirkland Lake territory from distance that allowed Michael Morascyzk to skate in and crank a blast past McInnis.
The visitors dashed the shutout bid of the Rapids’ Keiran Caughran as they struck shorthanded 53 second into the third when Owen O’Grady forced a turnover and dished a quick feed over to Vaive Hickey in the slot where he ripped in his third goal in as many games.
Tying it up six minutes later, the Gold Miners’ Nathan Harper worked a loose puck on the right side and put it upstairs to help force extra time.
Heading to OT, Kirkland Lake capped off the comeback when Ben Lyons fired a shot from up top that Caughran could not quite control, which allowed Rusu to step in behind and stuff in the loose puck for the game-winner.
With the outcome, Kirkland Lake improves to 9-15-0-2.
Getting a point in defeat sees French River dip to 4-20-0-1.
