ESPANOLA, Ont. – The Espanola Paper Kings rode the strength of three third period tallies to help them double up the French River Rapids 4-2 in Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League action Friday at the Regional Recreation Complex.
Espanola picked up the game’s opening goal when Jonathan Lush struck shorthanded 3:49 into the proceedings, as he buried a cross-ice feed from Lucas Signoretti, who extended a point streak to eight in the process.
Heading to the middle frame, French River scored twice to take a 2-1 lead into the second intermission.
Matthew Campanella drew the Rapids level during a man advantage as he was credited with knocking in a Connor Picard attempt off a sharp angle shot.
The visitors then went in front at 11:57 when Maxsim Tugolukov finished off a behind-the-net feed by Jack Ginocchi, from between the hash marks, and beat goalkeeper Jake Marois.
Coming back early in the final frame, the Paper Kings clicked twice on the power play, to go ahead for good.
Justin Seguin tied it at 2:23 when he buried a cross-ice into the open side by French River starter Matthew Perdue.
Espanola then got the eventual difference maker with just over 13 minutes remaining as Blake Peters-Davey charged in from the right side and slammed in a rebound off a Spencer Horgan chance.
The Paper Kings then wrapped up the win in the late going, off the stick of Jack Lynes, as he deposited a long-range empty netter to round out the night’s scoring.
With the outcome, Espanola improved to 20-15-2-2 overall while French River dipped to 6-32-1-1.
