The Elliot Lake Red Wings and Espanola Express split their home-and-home Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League exhibition set with a split.
After the Red Wings cruised to a win on Friday night in Espanola, the Express beat the Red Wings Saturday evening at Centennial Arena locally.
Kobe Braham tallied twice while Kyle Caron had a goal and an assist to help propel the Express to a 6-4 win over the Red Wings.
After Tyson Bradford gave the Red Wings the early lead, the Express countered with markers from Caron at even strength and Braham, shorthanded, to take a 2-1 lead into the first intermission.
Like the opening game, Espanola outscored Elliot Lake 2-1 in the middle frame on goals from Adam Shillinglaw and Jacob Campbell while Dayton Clarke connected for the hosts.
In the third, Ryan Rubic potted the eventual game-winner at 4:08
Battling back, the Red Wings struck twice to pull within one as Cole Kimble and Silas Crawford each found the back of the net.
Red Wings eventually pulled their netminder in favour of an extra attacker, but Braham added an empty netter in the final moments to help nail down the road triumph.
Espanola netminder Patrick Boivin turned in a solid 51-save performance to earn the win, which included 27 saves in the second period alone.
Ryder Gregga and Julien Lefebvre both saw time in the Elliot Lake net, facing a combined 35 shots in the setback.
The Red Wings and Express are set to meet on Sept. 17 in the regular season opener for Elliot Lake.
Elsewhere in NOJHL exhibition action on Saturday, the Cochrane Crunch edged the Hearst Lumberjacks 5-4 and the Powassan Voodoos upended the Kirkland Lake Gold Miners 11-2.