Pictou County stuck to their winning ways Thursday night at the Wellness Centre as they improved to 4-0 with a 7-2 victory over the Valley Wildcats.
Mike Lyle continued to lead the Weeks Crushers offensively, picking up a goal and four assists. He now has six goals and 10 points in four games.
He didn’t have a role to play in the opening goal of the game though as Garrett Lambke made Valley defenceman Brandon Worthen look silly before beating Billy Clarke at the 8:50 mark of the first period.
The Wildcats answered 2:55 later on the power play as Anthony Cardinal beat Devan Tremblay.
Scoring his second MHL goal, Luc Poirier gave Pictou County the lead again with his own power play marker 14:03 into the opening frame.
Lyle picked up an assist on Poirier’s goal, finding him in the slot, but his tape-to-tape pass in front of Clarke to Cole Murphy on the Crushers third goal of the game topped that again as Pictou County took a 3-1 lead into the room.
In the second Daniel Walsh padded the Pictou County lead with a power play goal, catching a break as Clarke was cheating on the cross-crease pass and the Valley defenceman deflected it short side.
With 7:33 remaining in the period Lyle beat Clarke five-hole to make it 5-1. Clarke was pulled, making way for Mark Loveday. Clarke made 13 saves in 32:27 of play.
In the third the Wildcats continued to get themselves into trouble, but were able to kill off an early power play and Loveday stopped Walsh on a penalty shot.
Josh Worthen scored the second Wildcats goal of the game at the 10:01 mark of the third. They had a two-man advantage with 6:24 left in the game, but Pictou County killed it off with little issue.
Murphy added two goals in the final minutes to cap off the Pictou County’s night.
Tremblay made 25 saves in his fourth win of the season, while Loveday made 13 saves after relieving Clarke.
Both Tremblay and the Crushers hope to stay undefeated Saturday as they travel to Truro to face the Bearcats. Puck drop is 7 p.m. at the RECC.
Stats
Pictou County Weeks Crushers 7
1st Garrett Lambke from Mack Derraugh and Regan Spears 8:50
1st Luc Poirier from Mike Lyle and Jeff Krichew 14:03 PP
1st Cole Murphy from Mike Lyle and Regan Spears 18:01
2nd Daniel Walsh from Mike Lyle and Justin McDonald 10:10 PP
2nd Mike Lyle from Evan Morrison 12:27
3rd Cole Murphy from Mike Lyle 16:27
3rd Cole Murphy from Stephen MacInnis and Jeff Krichew 18:50 PP
Valley Wildcats 2
1st Anthony Cardinal from Nicholas Gibson 11:45 PP
3rd Josh Worthen from Grant Janes and Jeremy Butterworth 10:01
Shots
Crushers 33
Wildcats 27
Power play
Crushers 3-8
Wildcats 1-3
W: Devan Tremblay 25 saves
L: Billy Clarke 13 saves (18 shots)
Mark Loveday 13 saves
