MONTREAL -- Christophe Lalonde of Mirabel, Que., tallied twice and added a helper as No.5 ranked McGill manhandled the Carleton Ravens 6-1 in OUA men's hockey at McConnell Arena, Saturday.

The result gave division-leading McGill a four-game season series sweep over the third-place Ravens and was the sixth consecutive conquest of Carleton, improving the Redmen record to 34-24-1 in 59 lifetime meetings overall since the rivalry began in 1968.

The Redmen led 1-0 after the opening period, 4-1 after two and added a pair in the final stanza. McGill outshot the visitors 43-26, including a stunning 19-1 performance in the first period, where the Ravens registered their first shot -- on a power-play --  with just 11 seconds remaining. It marked the fifth time in team history that McGill had limited an opponent to only one shot in a period but was still one shy of the school record, which occurred on Jan. 22, 1994 in the second period of a 5-0 home-ice win over Toronto.

The contest featured 19 penalties and McGill was especially brilliant on special teams, going 2-for-6 on the power-play and neutralizing nine of 10 man-advantage situations for Carleton, while scoring a shorthanded goal. The Redmen PK unit is tops in the 20-team OUA and second in the nation with an 89.3 per cent efficiency. Only StFX is better at 91.9.

"We were very happy with how we controlled the game on special teams," said McGill bench boss Kelly Nobes, who improved his lifetime record to 369-267-14 in 650 career games over his 17 years at McGill, Laurier and RMC. "I also liked our start tonight. We were real strong in the first period and pushed the pace... and that kind of set the tone for the rest of the game."

Lalonde, a 24-year-old arts junior, connected for both PP markers, giving the Redmen a 1-0 lead at 7:54 of the first and making it 3-1 at 9:39 of the second. The feisty 5-foot-9, 188-pound forward now leads the Redmen in goals with a career-high 13 and ranks second in points with 21, which matches his best accomplished last year.

"Lally can score goals and gets the hard ones, in the blue paint," Nobes said. "His first was like that tonight on the power-play and we need him playing like that for us to continue having success. But at the same time, we are getting contributions throughout the lineup. If you look at our goal distribution, they're spread across a large range of guys and that's going to be important for us going down the stretch."

Lalonde, one of five different Redmen scorers in the game, is one of three to reach the 10-goal plateau and six others are within reach of that mark.

After Brett Welychka tied the game at 1-1 with his 11th marker on a power-play at 2:37 of the middle period, McGill responded with five unanswered goals. Sophomore Samuel Tremblay of St. Hubert, Que., made it 2-1 with the game-winner, his 11th goal at 8:18 of the middle frame. Lalonde followed just 81 seconds later and then defenceman Nathan Chiarlitti of Maple, Ont., made it 4-1 at 17:49. Antoine Dufort-Plante, a freshman from Montreal, made is 5-1 with his sixth at 3:51 of the third and fan-favourite Frederic Gamelin of St. Polycarpe, Que., added the cherry on top with his fifth, a shorthanded tally at 14:55.

The Redmen lead the nation with eight shorthanded goals, four shy of the team's single-season record.

Play-making centre Jerome Verrier collected three assists and now ranks fourth among all U SPORTS assist leaders. The economics junior from Drummondville, Que.,  sits second in the OUA scoring race with a 10-27-37 record in 25 games. He is nestled between Concordia's Anthony Beauregard (17-38-55) and Ryerson's Matt Mistele (14-19-33).

Goaltender Louis-Philippe Guindon saved 25 of 26 shots for the victory, improving his record to 17-5. The science sophomore from St. Joseph du Lac, Que., leads the country in wins, is ranked second in the league and fifth nationally in goals-against average (2.16) and owns a save percentage of .919. Guindon had a brief scare with 6:05 remaining in the contest when he was hit by a puck on his helmet. Back-up netminder Jacob Gervais-Chouinard, who was dressing for the first time this season after graduating last year, began to warm-up behind the bench but Guindon was able to continue. Gervais-Chouinard, the team's No.1 goalie in the four previous seasons, is on call as one of the Montreal Canadiens emergency goaltenders. He was replacing back-up Joe Fleschler, who was injured last week.

Sophomore Francois Brassard started for the Ravens and took the loss, dropping to 10-8. He was beaten four times on 31 shots before being yanked after two periods. Justin Nichols, also a sophomore, played the final period and conceded two goals on a dozen shots.

With three games left to play, McGill sits atop the OUA East with a 20-4-1 record and has reached the 20-win plateau for the fifth consecutive season and the eighth time in nine years. The Redmen have now assured themselves of finishing no worse than second place and can clinch the regular-season pennant with a victory in Trois-Rivieres on Wednesday, Jan. 31. That date will mark the 142nd anniversary of McGill's first-ever game, in 1877.

The UQTR Patriotes are in eighth-place at 8-16-1 after forfeiting 19 points due to an ineligible player. The Pats, who also have three games remaining, are in a three-way fight with RMC (6-14-4) and Laurentian (7-16-1) for the eighth and final playoff berth in the division. Should they finish eighth, they would likely meet archrival McGill in the OUA quarter-finals, slated to begin on Valentine's Day.

LINK TO SCORING SUMMARY

2017-18 OUA MEN'S HOCKEY STANDINGS
 

Rank	OUA West	GP	W	L	OTL	PTS	PCT	GF	GA	STK	P10	PIM
1	Guelph	24	18	5	1	37	0.771	103	71	2-0-0	8-2-0	288
2	Ryerson	23	14	6	3	31	0.674	96	76	1-0-1	6-2-2	238
3	York	24	15	8	1	31	0.646	81	70	3-0-0	5-4-1	292
4	Laurier	24	13	8	3	29	0.604	81	72	0-3-1	4-5-1	246
5	Brock	24	12	7	5	29	0.604	67	63	1-0-1	6-2-2	277
6	Western	23	11	9	3	25	0.543	85	80	7-0-1	8-1-1	178
7	Lakehead	25	10	11	4	24	0.480	54	76	0-3-3	2-5-3	232
8	Windsor	24	7	10	7	21	0.438	65	82	1-0-1	2-5-3	400
9	Waterloo	23	8	12	3	19	0.413	70	95	1-0-0	3-6-1	479
10	Toronto	24	9	14	1	19	0.396	63	82	1-0-0	5-5-0	343
Rank	OUA East	GP	W	L	OTL	PTS	PCT	GF	GA	STK	P10	PIM
1	McGill	25	20	4	1	41	0.820	101	56	3-0-1	7-2-1	351
2	Queen's	24	16	5	3	35	0.729	76	55	4-0-0	8-2-0	278
3	Carleton	24	15	6	3	33	0.688	86	63	0-1-0	6-3-1	396
4	Concordia	24	15	6	3	33	0.688	98	74	0-2-0	5-4-1	422
5	UOIT	24	14	9	1	29	0.604	67	65	1-0-0	6-4-0	344
6	Ottawa	24	12	8	4	28	0.583	80	83	1-0-0	4-4-2	280
7	Nipissing	24	9	13	2	20	0.375	59	76	0-1-0	2-8-0	459
8	UQTR	25	8	16	1	17	0.340	80	69	0-1-0	6-3-1	452
9	RMC	24	6	14	4	16	0.333	54	93	1-0-1	2-6-2	405
10	Laurentian	24	7	16	1	15	0.292	59	113	0-1-0	3-6-1	369

NOTE: UQTR forfeited 8 wins and 3 OT losses (19 pts) for using an ineligible player. The teams that benefited are: Lakehead (4 pts), Laurentian (4), Nipissing (3), Carleton (2), Queen's (2).