A shorthanded goal in the third period helped the Rayside-Balfour Canadians to an important win over the Soo Thunderbirds on Saturday night.
In a battle of the top two teams in the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League’s West Division, Kyle Liinamaa scored a shorthanded goal at 7:03 of the third period as the Canadians beat the Thunderbirds 4-2 at the John Rhodes Community Centre.
The win pulls the Canadians to within six points of the division-leading Thunderbirds though the Sault holds three games in hand on their Sudbury-area counterparts.
Rayside goaltender David Bowen stopped 36 shots while Brandon Atkins paced the Canadians offensively with two goals and an assist.
Liinamaa had a goal and an assist for Rayside.
Jett Leishmann had the other goal for the Canadians.
Thunderbirds goaltender Colin Ahern made 36 saves.
Lucas Theriault and Max Techel scored for the Thunderbirds.
The Canadians improve to 20-12-1-2 while the loss drops the Thunderbirds record to 24-7-0-1.
The Thunderbirds wrap up the pre-Christmas schedule on Dec. 21 with a road game in Espanola against the Express.