Opening up a mini two-game road trip, two goals and an assist from Mason Walker propelled the Greater Sudbury Cubs to a 7-1 victory over the Kirkland Lake Gold Miners in a Jan. 16 Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League match-up Friday at Joe Mavrinac Community Complex.
The visitors opened the scoring 13:40 into the contest as Kyle Navarro went to the net on a rush-up-ice and snapped in a close-range rebound past goalkeeper Glen McInnes.
Less than a minute later, Walker put the Cubs up 2-0 after 20 minutes when he neatly finished off a sharp cross-ice feed from Caden Dubreuil.
Cutting into the deficit on the power play, Cayden Kowal took a pass from Owen Kelly and went in on Greater Sudbury goaltender Matthew Vahramian and made a quick deke to his left where he tucked in his ninth of the season.
In reply, the Cubs pumped in four unanswered markers before the second intermission to take a 6-1 lead after 40 minutes.
Dubreuil, with his club up a skater, began the outburst at 9:41 when he slammed in a one-timer with help from Walker and Spencer Horgan.
The Cubs then clicked shorthanded thanks to Nate Lazarus connecting off a pass from Nolan Newton in a two-on-one just moments after Gold Miners player’s stick broke on a shot point attempt.
Even strength saw Aleksander Duguay steer a play put his way by Navarro before Kaedyn Long capped off the session with an extra-man effort, lifting one over the blocker of McInnes through traffic from the top of the right circle.
Walker then capped the outcome in the final frame, extending a consecutive game point streak to eight by completing another odd-man rush with Dubreuil.
In collecting the win, Greater Sudbury raised their record to 27-6-1-2 and in defeat, Kirkland Lake dropped to 11-21-0-4.
The Cubs next play Jan. 17, a road game at the Claude Larose Recreation Centre against the Hearst Lumberjacks. Puck drops at 7 p.m.