SUDBURY, ONT -- Christophe Lalonde scored twice and added a helper as McGill exploded for five second-period goals en route to an 8-3 road victory over the Laurentian University Voyageurs in OUA men's hockey at Countryside Arena, Friday.

It was the first meeting between these teams since McGill swept the Voyageurs in the OUA East quarter-finals last February and was McGill's eighth consecutive win over Laurentian, since a 5-2 setback at McConnell Arena on Oct. 18, 2014. The Redmen now own a 19-5-2 lifetime record in 26 meetings overall with the Voyageurs.

McGill had a lopsided 55-23 edge in shots. They led 1-0 after the opening period and 6-1 after two. Both teams tallied twice in the final stanza.

Lalonde opened the scoring on a power-play at 16:41 of the first period, then assisted on junior Jerome Verrier's goal to make it 3-0 at 7:17 of the middle stanza. just 88 seconds later, he potted what proved to the winning marker. The 5-foot-9, 188-pound Arts junior from Granby, Que., has six points in his last two contests and now owns a 6-3-9 record in 11 league games.

He was one of seven different Redmen to find the net. Joining Lalonde and Verrier on the scoresheet was freshman Michael Cramarossa, rookie Keanu Yamamoto, senior Jan Kaminsky (shorthanded), sophomore Samuel Tremblay and junior Redgie Bois.

With McGill ahead 5-0, Laurentian finally snapped their scoring drought when fifth-year senior Caleb Apperson, a 6-foot-4, 200-pound native of New Hamburg, Ont., struck on the power-play for his first of two goals. Rounding out the scoring was junior Blake Forslund of Owen Sound, who netted a PP marker for his fourth of the season with just 15 seconds remaining.

McGill starting goaltender Louis-Philip Guindon collected his seventh win in nine decisions. The kinesiology sophomore from St. Joseph du Lac, Que., kicked aside 14 of 15 shots in just two periods or work, lowering his goal-against average to 2.26 and his save percentage to .927. With McGill ahead by five goals after two periods, Guindon gave way to Joe Fleschler, a 6-foot-6, 223-pound economics junior from Westfield, N.J., who saved six of eight shots. Apperson's second goal of the contest, at 7:10 of the final stanza, snapped Fleschler's shutout streak at 115 minutes, 12 seconds.

Gunner Rivers, the starting goalie for LU, was beaten six times on 36 shots before being replaced by Devon Debastos in the third. He conceded two goals on 19 shots.

McGill, which leads the league in goals (48) and shorthanded markers (5), went 1-for-4 on the power-play, while the Voyageurs were 2-for-3. The Redmen PP unit, which was ranked 19th in the 20-team league two weeks ago, has moved up to 15th and is now operating at 11.9 per cent (7/59).  The PK squad is ranked 12th at 84.9 per cent efficiency (45/53).

The Redmen, who continue to lead the OUA East with a lofty 9-2 record, gained a point on the second-place UQTR Patriotes (7-1-2), who were upset 2-1 in overtime at RMC. It marked their second-ever loss to the Paladins -- the first since 2005 -- who celebrated their first win of the season and improved to 1-8-1. McGill's long road trip continues on Saturday in North Bay, Ont., when they confront the Nipissing Lakers (4-4-1) at the Memorial Gardens in a 7:30 p.m. puck drop. Meanwhile, Laurentian (2-7) will host Concordia (7-1-1) on Saturday evening.

REDMEN RAP: Samuel Labrecque, a 25-year-old native of Granby, Que., who starred along the McGill blueline from 2014 to 2016 has left the ECHL's Wichita Thunder and re-signed with his previous team, Villacher SV in Austria's elite league (EBEL), which is considered one of the top leagues in Europe. The 5-foot-8, 182-pound defenceman tallied 39 goals and 86 points in 81 career games overall with McGill from 2014 to 2016,

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2017-18 OUA MEN'S HOCKEY STANDINGS
 

Rank	West Division	GP	W	L	OTL	PTS	PCT	GF	GA	STK	P10	PIM
1	York	10	8	2	0	16	0.800	32	23	1-0-0	8-2-0	112
2	Laurier	9	6	2	1	13	0.722	35	23	1-0-0	6-2-1	92
3	Ryerson	9	6	3	0	12	0.667	35	26	1-0-0	6-3-0	100
4	Guelph	9	5	3	1	11	0.611	32	30	3-0-0	5-3-1	108
5	Waterloo	9	4	3	2	10	0.556	27	25	1-0-0	4-3-2	150
6	Lakehead	9	4	4	1	9	0.500	21	25	0-1-0	4-4-1	88
7	Brock	10	3	4	3	9	0.450	29	31	1-0-1	3-4-3	101
8	Windsor	9	3	4	2	8	0.444	19	24	1-0-1	3-4-2	136
9	Western	9	3	5	1	7	0.389	31	39	0-1-1	3-5-1	72
10	Toronto	9	3	6	0	6	0.333	16	24	0-1-0	3-6-0	88
Rank	East Division	GP	W	L	OTL	PTS	PCT	GF	GA	STK	P10	PIM
1	McGill	11	9	2	0	18	0.818	48	24	3-0-0	8-2-0	146
2	UQTR	10	7	1	2	16	0.800	33	19	7-0-2	7-1-2	134
3	Carleton	9	7	1	1	15	0.833	35	19	5-0-0	7-1-1	129
4	Concordia	9	7	1	1	15	0.833	38	27	4-0-0	7-1-1	169
5	Queen's	9	4	2	3	11	0.611	26	25	0-1-0	4-2-3	124
6	Nipissing	9	4	4	1	9	0.500	20	29	0-1-0	4-4-1	176
7	Ottawa	9	4	4	1	9	0.500	33	33	0-3-0	4-4-1	90
8	UOIT	9	3	5	1	7	0.389	19	30	1-0-0	3-5-1	155
9	Laurentian	9	2	7	0	4	0.222	20	43	0-2-0	2-7-0	144
10	RMC	10	1	8	1	3	0.150	16	46	1-0-0	1-8-1	120