MATTAWA – Despite jumping out to an early two-goal lead in the first period the Elliot Lake Wildcats had to rally for a come from behind 4-3 victory over the Mattawa Blackhawks Saturday in a Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League encounter at Mike Rodden Arena.
Jason Wilson staked the Wildcats to the lead 2:01 into the contest while Cole Hepler fired home his 21st of the campaign for Elliot Lake just 35 seconds later to go up by a pair through 20 one.
Following a scoreless middle stanza, the final frame saw Mattawa come out firing as they struck three times via the power play three minutes apart to go up by a goal.
Andy Williams got the Blackhawks going by connecting with the man advantage at the 24-second mark of the session.
Nick Grose then tied it on the next shift while Phillip Cloutier put the home side in front with another man advantage effort at 3:31.
The power play allowed the Wildcats to pull even at 12:26 courtesy of a Spencer MacLean effort while Kyle Salmon slid in the eventual game-winner with just over two minutes left in the frame in what turned out to be the final tally of the night.
Alec MacKenzie had a pair of assists for the winning side while Grose added two helpers to go along with his marker for the Hawks.
Shots on goal favoured Elliot Lake 46-19 with Allan Menary picking up the win and Joe Sheppard the loss.