The Soo Thunderbirds got back in the win column on Sunday.
The Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League club erased a late deficit to beat the Elliot Lake Vikings Sunday at the John Rhodes Community Centre.
The Thunderbirds snapped a three-game losing skid in a 4-3 shootout win over the Vikings.
A shootout goal by Thomas Degagne, who beat Elliot Lake goaltender Sam Keene 5-hole in the fourth shootout round, was the difference in the victory for the Thunderbirds, who came back from two goals down with just under 90 seconds to go in regulation time to force overtime and ultimately the shootout.
Elliot Lake opened the scoring just 14 seconds into the game as Noah Aboflan beat Thunderbirds starter Maverick Fletcher from the left circle to give the Vikings the early lead.
The Thunderbirds tied the game midway through the period as Samuel Lake beat Keene at 10:47.
Elliot Lake retook the lead 59 seconds into the second period when Nate Dugwell beat Fletcher with a shot from in close to make it a 2-1 game.
The Vikings added to the lead midway through the third period when Nathan Marincola beat Fletcher on a rebound.
The Thunderbirds cut the Elliot Lake lead back down to one goal with 1:36 to go in regulation as James Leglar beat Keene with a shot from the slot on the power play and with Fletcher on the bench for an extra attacker.
Candon O’Neill tied the game with 57 seconds to go in regulation time as he scored during a scramble in close.
In the shootout, the Thunderbirds got goals from Jacob Smith and Daniel Beaupre in addition to Degagne’s game winner.
Aboflan and Carter Carriere scored for Elliot Lake in the shootout.
Aboflan finished the day with a goal and two assists for Elliot Lake while Dugwell added one of each in the loss.
Keene stopped 47 shots for the Vikings while Fletcher stopped 26 at the other end.
With the victory, the Thunderbirds improve to 17-8-2-1 and sit fifth in the NOJHL’s West Division with 37 points, one behind the Espanola Paper Kings and four behind the Soo (Mich.) Eagles.
The Vikings have dropped four straight games and sit sixth in the division with a record of 5-18-1-4 on the season.
Next action for both teams is a Wednesday night contest between the two clubs in Massey.