MONTREAL -- Defenceman Maximilian Daigle scored the game winner with 4:20 remaining as No.5-ranked McGill rallied for a 3-2 victory over visiting Ottawa in OUA men's hockey action at McConnell Arena, Friday.

It was McGill's first game in 34 days, their third straight victory and ninth win in their last 10 games. The result improved their stellar record to 16-3-0 atop the OUA East division, avenging a stunning 6-3 loss to the Gee-Gees (8-6-3) in their only previous meeting this season, way back on Oct. 28 in the nation's capital. The Redmen are now 102-80-10 in 192 lifetime meetings with Ottawa.

It was only the second marker of the campaign for Daigle, a 5-foot-9, 193-pound native of St. Lambert, Que., who now has 15 points in 18 games since transferring to McGill this season from the NCAA's University of Vermont.

McGill dominated puck possession, outshooting Ottawa each period for a 43-23 advantage. But the score was tied 1-1 after the opening period and Ottawa led 2-1 after two, before McGill rallied with two markers in the final frame.

"We came back after a month off and were pretty good tonight," said McGill head coach Kelly Nobes, who improved his record to 224-98-3 in 325 games overall since taking over the Redmen bench eight seasons ago. "We were pretty consistent throughout the game and generated a lot of scoring chances in each period. I liked the way we stuck with (the game plan) given that we were down a goal heading into the third. We kept coming, generated lots of shots and the big difference in the game was that we got some guys to the front of the net and as a result, both of our goals were scored on scrambles in front, from second-chance opportunities."

Rookie Antoine Dufort-Plante of Montreal put the Redmen ahead 1-0 with his fourth of the season at 10:10 of the first.

"Doofie had a real good game tonight, one of his better games this year," noted Nobes. "He was all over the ice, beating guys one-on-one, and creating chances with his speed and quickness. It was good to see him play with that kind of jam in his game."

Four minutes later Patrick White of Ottawa tied the score for the visitors. In the middle frame, the Gee-Gees took the lead when rearguard Medric Mercier, also from Ottawa, connected for his fifth of the season on a power-play at 5:57. In the final period, McGill's Christophe Lalonde, a junior from Mirabel, Que., struck for his team-leading ninth of the season to knot the score at 2-2, setting the stage for Daigle's heroics.

Both goaltenders came up with a number of big saves. McGill sophomore netminder Louis-Philip Guindon kicked out 21 of 23 shots and improved his record to 13-3. He leads all OUA goalies in wins, is tied for the lead in shutouts (1), ranks third in goals-against average (2.22) and is 10th in save percentage (.921). Anthony Brodeur took the loss for the Gee-Gees despite a 40-save performance. The sophomore from Morin Heights, Que., saw his record unjustly fall to 2-4.

Ottawa was 1-for-4 for the power-play while McGill was 0-for-5. One of McGill's goals came five seconds after a PP expired and erased a delayed penalty that was about to be called on Ottawa. The Redmen pulled their goalie on the play for a 6-on-5 advantage in skaters but it technically was not considered a power-play situation.

McGill (12-3-0) will play they next two games on the road, beginning with fourth-place Carleton (11-4-2) in Ottawa on Saturday (Jan. 6), followed by a confrontation against UQTR (11-3-4) in Trois-Rivieres on Wednesday (Jan. 10),  Both games are slated for 7 p.m. puck drops and are expected to be streamed live on OUA.tv.

REDMEN RAP: Among the McGill lineup scratches was sophomore Alexandre Sills, who shares the team lead in goals (9) and ranks fourth in points (16 in 18 games)... With nine games remaining before playoffs, McGill would need to win every game to set a school record for victories, set in 2010-11 when they posted a 24-2-2 mark. The Redmen magic number is three points to clinch a playoff berth for the 14th consecutive year. The last time they failed to qualify for post-season play was in 2004.

LINK TO BOXSCORE

2017-18 OUA MEN'S HOCKEY STANDINGS (updated after Friday's games)
 

Rank	East	GP	W	L	OTL	PTS	PCT	GF	GA	STK	P10	PIM
1	McGill	19	16	3	0	32	0.842	78	44	3-0-0	9-1-0	261
2	Concordia	17	12	2	3	27	0.794	75	48	4-0-2	7-1-2	305
3	UQTR	18	11	3	4	26	0.722	62	41	1-0-0	4-2-4	375
4	Carleton	17	11	4	2	24	0.706	63	40	3-0-0	6-3-1	254
5	Queen's	17	10	4	3	23	0.676	55	48	3-0-0	7-3-0	204
6	UOIT	17	10	6	1	21	0.618	48	50	0-1-0	8-2-0	223
7	Ottawa	17	8	6	3	19	0.559	57	61	0-2-1	4-4-2	202
8	Nipissing	17	5	9	3	13	0.382	45	63	0-4-0	2-6-2	329
9	RMC	18	5	10	3	13	0.361	38	69	0-2-1	5-3-2	269
10	Laurentian	17	2	15	0	4	0.118	41	96	0-10-0	0-10-0	281
Rank	West	GP	W	L	OTL	PTS	PCT	GF	GA	STK	P10	PIM
1	Ryerson	17	12	4	1	25	0.735	73	51	4-0-1	7-2-1	180
2	Guelph	17	12	4	1	25	0.735	75	57	1-0-0	9-1-0	185
3	York	18	11	6	1	23	0.639	57	52	0-2-0	4-5-1	230
4	Laurier	17	10	5	2	22	0.647	59	45	0-2-0	5-4-1	158
5	Brock	17	9	5	3	21	0.618	53	47	5-0-0	7-2-1	199
6	Windsor	17	6	7	4	16	0.471	45	50	0-1-0	4-3-3	228
7	Lakehead	16	7	8	1	15	0.469	36	44	1-0-0	5-5-0	170
8	Western	17	6	9	2	14	0.412	61	67	2-0-0	3-5-2	136
9	Waterloo	17	5	9	3	13	0.382	49	72	0-4-1	2-7-1	346
10	Toronto	17	4	12	1	9	0.265	33	58	0-6-1	2-7-1	227