MONTREAL -- Five different players scored for McGill as the division-leading and No.4-ranked Redmen won for the third straight outing and skated to a 5-2 victory over visiting Nipissing University at McConnell Arena, Saturday.

As part of a Toque Night promotion, everyone in the building was given a nifty blue tuque, courtesy of the the Bell Let's Talk program in support of mental health.

McGill improved to 18-4 in 22 lifetime meetings with Nipissing, an injury-riddled team which is now on a five-game losing streak. The Lakers, who hail from North Bay, Ont., were outshot 39-26. McGill, led 2-1 after one period and 4-1 after two. With five games remaining before playoffs, the result left the division-leading Redmen atop the OUA East standings with a 17-4-2 record, two points ahead of Queen's (16-4-2), four ahead of Concordia (15-6-2) and five ahead of Carleton (15-7-1).

Nipissing forward Colin Campbell opened the scoring with a 5-on-3 power-play marker at 8:41 of the first period but McGill roared back with five consecutive goals, three of them from defencemen. Dominic Talbot-Tassi evened the score with his fourth of the season on a power-play at 10:15. The sophomore added an assist later and now leads all OUA blueliners with 26 points in 23 games.

Gianluca Curcuruto, a rugged rearguard and seventh-round draft pick of the Columbus Blue Jackets, gave McGill a 2-1 lead with his second of the season at 18:26. The Redmen added another pair in the middle stanza, with sophomore Jerome Verrier of Drummondville, Que., collecting his third marker at 4:30 and senior defenceman Etienne Boutet of Quebec City netting his second at 16:07.

Senior Patrick Delisle-Houde, also from the provincial capital, rounded out the scoring for McGill on a power-play at 8:40 of the final period. It was his team-leading 12th of the season. The team captain now owns a 63-98-161 overall record in 191 career games for the Redmen. Only one McGill player has dressed for more games, namely Evan Vossen, who suited up 211 times and scored the overtime winner in his final contest that gave McGill the national championship in 2012.

Dylan Staples of Callander, Ont., tallied Nipissing's final marker at 12:32 of the third stanza.

Rookie goaltender Louis-Philip Guindon saved 24 of 26 shots for the win, improving his record to 9-4. The former Rimouski Oceanic 'keeper is ranked fifth among OUA goalies in wins, third in goal-against average (1.92) and second in save percentage (.928). Laker's rookie Talor Joseph saved 34 of 39 shots and dropped to 0-5. One of his saves came on a penalty shot when he stopped Jerome Verrier at 6:03 of the final period.

The Redmen went 2-for-6 on the power-play, while the Lakers were 1-for-7, ending McGill's stingy penalty-killing streak at 18 consecutive kills.

The remaining five games will be quite a challenge for McGill as they will be without the services of three alternate captains -- forward Mathieu Pompei, along with defencemen Etienne Boutet and Nathan Chiarlitti -- each of whom will be playing for Canada at the FISU world university games, also known as the Winter Universiade, in Almaty, Kazakhstan, Jan. 25 to Feb. 10, 2017. They are not expected back before playoffs, slated to begin on Feb. 15.

McGill will close out their schedule with games at Guelph (Jan. 27), at Western (Jan. 28), at home vs. Carleton (Feb. 4), at Nipissing (Feb. 10) and at Laurentian (Feb. 11).

Nipissing (6-16-1) will host seventh-place UQTR (13-7-2) on Jan.28.

REDMEN RAP: Verrier's penalty shot was the first one awarded to McGill since Rock Regimbald was stopped by Concordia's Miguel Sullivan on Feb. 12, 2016... The last McGill player to score on a penalty shot was Cedric McNicoll, who beat Windsor's Parker Van Buskirk at McConnell Arena on Jan. 31, 2014.

LINK TO COMPLETE BOXSCORE

SCORING SUMMARY
Nipissing 2 at McGill 5
(Saturday, January 21, 2017 - McConnell Arena)

GOALS BY PERIOD:
Nipissing 1 0 1 - 2
McGill 2 2 1 - 5

1st Period-
1, Nipissing, Craig Campbell 11 (McDowell, Campbell), 8:41 (PP).
2, McGill, Dominic Talbot-Tassi 4 (Chiarlitti, Gauthier), 10:15 (PP).
3, McGill, Gianluca Curcuruto 2 (Sills, Kaminsky), 18:26.

Penalties-Tremblay Mcg (interference), 6:42; Verrier Mcg (charging), 7:03; Campbell Nip (tripping), 10:09; Lalonde Mcg (high sticking, 10-minute misconduct), 15:07.

2nd Period-
4, McGill, Jerome Verrier 3 (unassisted), 4:30.
5, McGill, Etienne Boutet 2 (Bois, Kaminsky), 16:07.

Penalties-Mitchell Nip (high sticking), 0:32; Campbell Nip (holding opp. stick), 3:44; Gamelin Mcg (hooking), 3:44; Kaminsky Mcg (hooking), 7:29; Thibodeau Nip (high sticking), 13:17; Ottereyes Nip (elbowing), 18:17.

3rd Period-
6, McGill, Patrick Delisle-Houde 12 (Pompei, Talbot-Tassi), 8:40 (PP).
7, Nipissing, Dylan Staples 4 (Morrison, Gleason), 12:32.

Penalties-Gauthier Mcg (tripping), 0:19; Gleason Nip (slashing), 6:03; McDowell Nip (slashing), 7:30; Desrochers Nip (slashing), 8:08; Boutet Mcg (tripping), 14:47; Gamelin Mcg (interference), 18:49; McNeill Nip (slashing), 19:48.

Shots on Goal-
Nipissing 8-7-11 -- 26.
McGill 12-18-9 -- 39.

Power Play Opportunities-
Nipissing 1 / 7;
McGill 2 / 6.

Goalies-
Nipissing, Talor Joseph (L, 0-5-0, 39 shots-34 saves; 60:00).
McGill, Louis-Philip Guindon (W, 9-4-0, 26 shots-24 saves; 60:00).

Attendance: 319
Start: 7:04 PM
End: 9:20 PM
Length: 2:16

Referees-Jonathan Girard, Mathieu Binette.
Linesmen-Jean-Francois Losier, Sebastien Lefebvre.

MOLSON CUP THREE STARS:
1. MCG - 27 Dominic Talbot-Tassi
2. MCG - 14 Jan Kaminsky
3. MCG - 3 Gianluca Curcuruto


2016-17 OUA EAST MEN'S HOCKEY STANDINGS (updated through Jan. 24)
 

PLACE	OUA East	GP	W	L	OTL	PTS	PCT	GF	GA	STK	PIM
1	McGill	23	17	4	2	36	0.783	87	51	3-0-0	526
2	Queen's	22	16	4	2	34	0.773	70	51	6-0-1	181
3	Concordia	23	15	6	2	32	0.696	88	59	0-1-1	372
4	Carleton	23	15	7	1	31	0.674	89	49	6-0-1	385
5	Ottawa	23	13	7	3	29	0.630	82	62	7-0-1	330
6	UOIT	24	14	9	1	29	0.604	78	71	0-1-0	317
7	UQTR	22	13	7	2	28	0.636	83	59	0-1-0	308
8	Laurentian	23	8	11	4	20	0.435	58	80	0-3-2	296
9	Nipissing	23	6	16	1	13	0.283	48	79	0-5-0	318
10	RMC	22	4	17	1	9	0.205	37	87	0-1-0	382
PLACE	OUA West	GP	W	L	OTL	PTS	PCT	GF	GA	STK	PIM
1	Ryerson	22	17	4	1	35	0.795	101	62	4-0-0	375
2	York	23	15	6	2	32	0.696	67	48	2-0-0	236
3	Guelph	22	13	8	1	27	0.614	82	68	3-0-1	307
4	Laurier	23	10	9	4	24	0.522	71	74	0-2-0	321
5	Windsor	24	11	11	2	24	0.500	64	80	0-2-0	492
6	Brock	23	11	11	1	23	0.500	66	86	0-2-0	429
7	Lakehead	21	10	10	1	21	0.500	67	80	2-0-0	340
8	Waterloo	22	8	11	3	19	0.432	48	74	1-0-0	339
9	Western	21	6	13	2	14	0.333	52	83	0-5-0	321
10	Toronto	23	4	17	2	10	0.217	59	94	2-0-0	390