MONTREAL -- Defenceman Maximilian Daigle scored the game-winning tally midway through the second period and sophomore goaltender Louis-Philip Guindon posted an 18-save shutout as No. 5 ranked McGill skated to a convincing 3-0 whitewash over Queen's in OUA men's hockey at McConnell Arena, Friday.

It was the first Redmen shutout over the Gaels since Oct. 24, 2012 when Hubert Morin made 20 saves in a 6-0 victory. McGill, which swept their two-game season series versus the Gaels, avenged a two-game sweep in the OUA East final last spring and improved their all-time record against the Gaels to 127-54-2 in a series that dates all the way back to 1895.

The Redmen, who outshot Queen's 45-18, potted a pair of goals in the second period and added another in the third.

"It was a good win for us tonight, certainly coming off a tough (5-4) loss in Trois-Rivieres on Wednesday night, it was a good rebound game for a lot of the guys," said McGill head coach Kelly Nobes, who improved his record to 226-99-3 in 328 games overall since taking the helm eight years ago. "Collectively, everyone played a really solid game. We had everyone on the rope tonight, all pulling in the same direction. There were no passengers and that's what it takes to beat a good team like Queen's. It was a real fast game with a lot of pace. We did a good job of getting pucks, and bodies, to the net and it was good to see everybody have a real solid night."

Guindon, who conceded five goals on 24 shots in the loss at UQTR two days earlier, brought his "A" game to register his league-leading second shutout of the season and his third career goose-egg in a McGill uniform. The 6-foot-1, 183-pound native of St. Joseph du Lac, Que., improved his record to 15-4 on the season, while lowering  his goals-against average to 2.24 and his save percentage improved to .917.

Daigle, a native of St. Lambert, Que., and a first-year transfer from the University of Vermont, opened the scoring with his third of the season at 11:34 of the middle stanza, sneaking into the slot and converting a corner pass from Michael Cramarossa with a snap shot. Frederic Gamelin also drew a helper on the play.

Six minutes later, centre Jerome Verrier, a junior from Drummondville, Que., made it 2-0 when he hopped on a rebound and deked Gaels goalie Kevin Bailie, before depositing his eighth marker of the season into the empty side of the net. Christophe Lalonde and defenceman Nathan Chiarlitti were credited with assists.

The third period was all McGill as the Redmen outshot the visitors 14-3. Lalonde put the game out of reach on an early power-play just 102 seconds into the frame. It was his team-leading 11th of the season for Lalonde, a junior from Mirabel, Que., who scored 12 markers all of last year. The assists went to Verrier and Guillaume Gauthier.

Verrier's two-point soiree upped his team leading total to 32 points in 22 contests. The former Detroit Red Wings prospect now ranks third in the OUA scoring race, one point behind Ryerson's Matt Mistele (14-19-33) and a dozen behind Concordia's Anthony Beauregard (14-30-44).

Bailie made 42 saves in a losing cause for the Gaels. It was the first loss of the season for the fifth-year veteran from Belleville, Ont., who missed number of games with an injury and dropped to 5-1.

Queen's, which dropped to fifth-place in the OUA East "group of death" division with an 11-5-3 record, will play at third-place Concordia (13-3-3) on Saturday (Jan. 13) at 7:30 p.m.

The division-leading Redmen improved to 18-4-0 with six games remaining before playoffs. They lead the entire OUA in wins but could could still finish anywhere from first to seventh in the 10-team division. McGill returns to the ice next Friday, Jan. 19 when they resume a bitter rivalry with the Carleton Ravens (12-5-2) in the much-anticipated Management Winter Carnival Game, which normally draws a sellout crowd.

FACES IN THE CROWD: A number of Redmen hockey grads were on hand for the game. The group included former captain Patrick Delisle-Houde (2012-17), who was recently hired by the Montreal Canadiens to serve as strength and conditioning coordinator... Other Redmen alums spotted at McConnell Arena were Dr. Jay McMullan (1981-84), Mike Farmer (1976-79), Mike Nelson (1978-84), Jocelyn (Tiger) Perreault (1999-04) and Chris Hobson (1989-91). The latter two are minor hockey coaches and Perreault brought his Blackhawks team, while Hobson was visiting from Boston with the Boston Jr. Eagles.

LINK TO BOXSCORE

2017-18 OUA Men's Hockey Standings
 

Rank	OUA West	GP	W	L	OTL	PTS	PCT	GF	GA	STK	P10	PIM
1	Guelph	19	14	4	1	29	0.763	82	60	3-0-0	9-1-0	217
2	Ryerson	20	13	5	2	28	0.700	84	62	0-1-0	6-2-2	194
3	Laurier	19	12	5	2	26	0.684	65	49	2-0-0	6-3-1	168
4	York	20	12	7	1	25	0.625	65	61	1-0-0	4-5-1	252
5	Brock	19	10	6	3	23	0.605	56	50	1-0-0	7-2-1	209
6	Lakehead	18	8	8	2	18	0.500	45	53	2-0-1	4-5-1	176
7	Windsor	19	6	7	6	18	0.474	51	58	0-1-2	3-3-4	238
8	Western	18	7	9	2	16	0.444	65	70	3-0-0	4-4-2	146
9	Waterloo	19	5	11	3	13	0.342	53	80	0-6-1	1-8-1	381
10	Toronto	19	5	13	1	11	0.289	43	68	0-1-0	2-7-1	247
Rank	OUA East	GP	W	L	OTL	PTS	PCT	GF	GA	STK	P10	PIM
1	McGill	22	18	4	0	36	0.818	88	51	1-0-0	8-2-0	293
2	UQTR	21	14	3	4	32	0.762	76	51	4-0-0	7-1-2	417
3	Concordia	19	13	3	3	29	0.763	79	52	0-1-0	6-2-2	327
4	Carleton	19	12	5	2	26	0.684	74	49	1-0-0	5-4-1	278
5	Queen's	19	11	5	3	25	0.658	58	51	0-1-0	7-3-0	220
6	UOIT	19	11	7	1	23	0.605	51	55	1-0-0	8-2-0	255
7	Ottawa	19	9	7	3	21	0.553	61	65	1-0-0	5-3-2	224
8	Nipissing	19	5	11	3	13	0.342	48	69	0-6-0	1-7-2	351
9	RMC	20	5	12	3	13	0.325	44	77	0-4-1	4-4-2	319
10	Laurentian	19	3	16	0	6	0.158	49	106	0-1-0	1-9-0	307