MONTREAL – Goaltender Louis-Philip Guindon made 33 saves, while centre Jasmin Boutet scored twice and added one assist as McGill skated to a convincing 6-1 triumph over Nipissing in OUA men's hockey at McConnell Arena, Saturday.
 
It was McGill's third game in four nights and the result extended its modest win streak to two, improving to 14-8-2 in OUA East standings. With four games remaining before playoffs, McGill can finish anywhere from third to seventh in the 10-team division. They are wedged three points behind third-place Ottawa (15-6-3) with a comfortable six-point cushion ahead of fifth-place Queen's (11-11-2).
 
The result also improved McGill's record to 23-5 in 28 lifetime meetings with the Lakers, who have only two wins in the last 10 matchups.
 
McGill led 2-0 after the first period, while the middle frame was scoreless and McGill won the final stanza 4-1. The lopsided final score, however, was not reflected in shots on net as McGill narrowly edged the Lakers 37-34, including a 19-10 margin for Nipissing in the opening period.
 
But Guindon was a brick wall over the first two periods before losing his shutout bid midway through the final period when Jacob Hickey connected on the power-play. The native of St. Joseph du Lac, Que., weathered a turbulent start with a plethora of key saves in the first stanza.  The 24-year-old master's student in exercise physiology collected his 11th win in 18 games and now leads all OUA goaltenders with a .948 save percentage and ranks fourth with a 2.13 goals against average.

With a lifetime record of 55-29-0 in OUA play, Guindon has moved into second place for most career wins, past Mathieu Poitras (54-19-6, 2004 to 2008) and needs one victory to tie the McGill record set by Hubert Morin (56-15-0, 2008 to 2012). Guindon's 86 OUA games played surpasses the school mark held by Jarrod Daniel (84 games, 1994 to 1999). With 5,062 minutes played and 2,338 saves, Guindon recently broke Daniel's records of 4,900 minutes and 2,267 saves.

For a second-straight contest, McGill tallied a goal inside the opening two minutes. Boutet, a senior from  Lévis, Que., struck the opening blow at 1:59 of the first period for his third of the season. Boutet later added his fourth to put McGill ahead 5-1 at 17:46 of the final period. Less than two minutes later, he also set up the final goal, scored by Jordan-Ty Fournier of Dorval, Que., with 42 seconds remaining.

Christophe Lalonde of Mirabel, Que., was credited with the winning goal at 18:14 of the opening period. The industrial relations senior now has a 10-9-19 record in 24 contests.  It was his 50th career goal and 93rd point in 85 OUA games.
 
Rounding out the scoring for the home side was forward Harlan Orr of Lake Country, B.C., and defenceman Nathaniel Halbert of Richmond Hill, Ont.
 
McGill's power-play was blanked on all five of their opportunities, while Nipissing went 1-for-4.
 
Between the pipes, Lakers netminder Talor Joseph was beaten six times on 37 shots as his record fell to 4-11.
 
McGill's (14-8-2) will now prepare for a road trip to North Bay, Ont., for the conclusion of a home-and-home series against Nipissing (7-15-3) on Jan. 31, a date that will mark the 143rd anniversary of McGill's first-ever game, which was played on Jan. 31, 1877.