BLIND RIVER, Ont. – A Tyler Malpass tally 16:56 into the second period proved to be the difference maker as the Soo Thunderbirds slipped the Blind River Beavers 2-1 Saturday in Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League action at the Blind River Community Centre.
After a scoreless first frame, the surging Thunderbirds saw Nick Smith strike for a 10th time in 2017-18 to put the visitors up near the four-minute mark of the second.
Sault Ste. Marie upped their lead later in the frame as Malpass notched his third of the campaign as the visitors added to their lead.
It took nearly 56 minutes for Blind River to finally put one past Thunderbirds’ starter Brandon Gordon when Jack Rudin put the home side on the board with 4:16 to go in what turned out to be the final marker in the low-scoring affair.
Gordon finished with 32 stops in picking up the win while Garret Boyonoski saw 35 attempts in defeat for the Beavers.
With the win the Soo picked up their fifth consecutive victory while the slumping Beavers fell to 0-7-0-1 in their past eight.
