[PHOTO BY DEREK DRUMMOND: McGill's 5-foot-8, 168-pound forward Frederic Gamelin (9) tries in vain to move 6-foot-7, 220-pound Swiss defenceman Nicolas Thommen]

MONTREAL -- Guillaume Gauthier of Ste. Marthe sur le Lac, Que., scored a pair of goals, including the game-winner, as No.5 ranked McGill doubled the Laurentian University Voyageurs 6-3 in OUA men's hockey, Friday, at McConnell Arena.

It marked the ninth consecutive win for the Redmen over Laurentian, dating back to a 5-2 loss on Oct. 18, 2014, and improved their lifetime record to 20-5-2 record in 27 meetings overall .

"I didn't think we were particularly great tonight," admitted McGill bench boss Kelly Nobes despite a 58-25 edge in shots on goal, including a 27-7 margin in the final frame. "We had a strong third period. Special teams were good. But our first two periods weren't where they needed to be. We talked about not giving up too much early in the game but we did. We want to be better on the transition from offence to defence and in some of our defensive responsibilities."

The 27 shots in the final stanza ranked as the third highest output in a period in McGill history and was four shy of the school record -- achieved in the second period on a game against RMC on Jan. 31, 2000.

McGill was 2-for-6 on the power play and perfect on two penalty kills. Both teams allowed a shorthanded marker. The Redmen continue to lead the nation in shorthanded tallies with seven.  The McGill PK unit has killed off 25 consecutive manpower situations and now ranks No.2 in the 20-team OUA with an 89.7 per cent success rate.

"To get two power play goals was good for our PP groups tonight and our penalty-kill's been rolling for a little bit, so special teams were effective tonight," said Nobes.

Five Redmen scored goals and 10 players merited points in the victory. To date, 18 different McGill players have tallied at least one goal.

"We're getting scoring from all four lines and we're getting it in different ways," noted Nobes. "We have seven shorthanded goals, our power play's scored some and we're getting it from guys on different lines. It probably makes us harder to defend and it means guys are playing the right way. To win at the end of year you need to have everybody able to contribute, so it's a good thing for us."

McGill jumped to a 3-0 lead in the first period but Laurentian fought back to make it 3-2 midway through the second stanza. Gauthier's power-play tally at 16:08 of the period threw a wrench in the Voyageurs' comeback effort, putting the Redmen up 4-2. The 5-foot-10, 200-pound left winger added an even-strength marker 3:30 into the third to make it 5-3.

"He was moving good tonight," said Nobes of his sophomore who has scored five goals in his last four games after only connecting twice in his first nine contests. "Had some jump in his game. He's scored in the last four games, is shooting the puck well and getting some chances. He and Jerome Verrier and Christophe Lalonde have decent chemistry so it's good to have him getting some goals for us."

Verrier, who also hails from Drummondville, had gotten things started shorthanded at 9:53 of the first period. The economics junior also added an assist an currently ranks third in the OUA scoring race with a 5-21-26 record in 17 contests.

Sophomore Samuel Tremblay of St. Basile le Grand, Que., doubled McGill's advantage at 14:33 and defenceman Dominic Talbot-Tassi of Mascouche, Que., added another just 35 seconds after that to make make it 3-0. The shifty junior ranks now second among OUA blueliners with 17 points, including six goals, in 17 games.

Laurentian came out strong in the middle frame, with Danny Lepage scoring 1:42 into the period and Russell Nowry bringing the Voyageurs within one at 7:58. Blake Forslund made it 4-3 with a shorty at 19:44, prompting a McGill goalie change after the period.

Gauthier's second of the evening opened the third period scoring and Lalonde, a native of Mirabel, Que., capped things off with a power-play goal at 14:36.

Joe Fleschler of Westfield, N.J., started in goal for the Redmen and earned the win with 15 saves on 18 shots through 40 minutes, improving to 3-0. Louis-Philip Guindon of St. Joseph du Lac, Que., blocked all seven shots faced in the final period.

Laurentian starter Victor-Olivier Courchesne lasted just 15:08 in the Voyageurs' net, allowing three goals on nine shots before being relieved by Gunner Rivers, who turned away an impressive 46 of 49 shots but was saddled with the loss, dropping his record to 0-7.

The division-leading Redmen improved to 14-3-0 and have a four-point lead on both Concordia (11-2-2) and UQTR (10-2-4). With one game remaining heading into the winter break, McGill has secured the OUA's top spot by at least a two-point margin. They wrap up the semester against Nipissing (5-8-3) on Saturday (Dec. 2 at 7 p.m.) at McConnell Arena.

Laurentian (2-14-0) visits Concordia (11-2-2) that same evening.

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2017-18 OUA MEN'S HOCKEY STANDINGS
 

Rank	OUA West	GP	W	L	OTL	PTS	PCT	GF	GA	STK	P10	PIM
1	Guelph	15	11	3	1	23	0.767	71	52	9-0-0	9-1-0	160
2	York	16	11	4	1	23	0.719	53	43	2-0-1	5-4-1	195
3	Laurier	16	10	4	2	22	0.688	58	38	0-1-0	6-3-1	156
4	Ryerson	15	10	4	1	21	0.700	61	48	2-0-1	6-3-1	164
5	Brock	15	7	5	3	17	0.567	45	43	3-0-0	6-2-2	154
6	Windsor	15	5	6	4	14	0.467	40	46	0-2-1	4-3-3	210
7	Lakehead	15	6	8	1	13	0.433	33	43	0-2-0	5-5-0	164
8	Waterloo	16	5	8	3	13	0.406	48	67	0-3-1	2-6-2	330
9	Western	16	5	9	2	12	0.375	56	66	1-0-0	3-5-2	122
10	Toronto	15	4	10	1	9	0.300	30	51	0-4-1	2-7-1	219
Rank	OUA East	GP	W	L	OTL	PTS	PCT	GF	GA	STK	P10	PIM
1	McGill	17	14	3	0	28	0.824	71	39	1-0-0	8-2-0	243
2	Concordia	15	11	2	2	24	0.800	62	39	3-0-1	8-1-1	287
3	UQTR	16	10	2	4	24	0.750	55	34	3-0-2	5-1-4	363
4	Carleton	15	9	4	2	20	0.667	56	38	1-0-0	6-3-1	203
5	UOIT	15	9	5	1	19	0.633	43	45	7-0-0	7-3-0	195
6	Queen's	15	8	4	3	19	0.633	49	44	1-0-0	5-4-1	194
7	Ottawa	15	8	5	2	18	0.600	53	55	0-1-0	5-4-1	182
8	Nipissing	16	5	8	3	13	0.406	42	59	0-3-0	2-6-2	319
9	RMC	16	5	8	3	13	0.406	36	62	5-0-2	5-2-3	245
10	Laurentian	16	2	14	0	4	0.125	37	87	0-9-0	1-9-0	261