MONTREAL – Zach Gallant of Oakville, Ont., scored one goal and assisted on three others as McGill cruised to a 7-1 triumph over the Nipissing University Lakers in an OUA men's hockey matinee, Saturday.
 
It marked the Redbirds 11th consecutive home victory at McConnell Arena since a 4-3 overtime loss to Ontario Tech on Oct. 14, 2023. The home win streak is third longest in school history, behind the team record of 24 (over two seasons) set between 2010 and 2011. The other longer streak was 17 games, accomplished twice, in 1936-37 and between 2009 and 2010.

With five games remaining before playoffs, McGill (16-5-2) now sits in a first-place tie with Ottawa (16-5-2) in the OUA East. UQTR (16-5-1) is perched one point behind with a game in hand. Concordia (15-6-2), which lost 3-1 to Queen's, dropped to fourth place and trails the Patriotes by one point.
 
Nipissing opened the scoring when Harrison Caines connected just 91 seconds after the initial puck-drop. But McGill rallied with seven unanswered goals from five different players. The game was tied 1-1 after one period and McGill jumped into a 5-1 lead after two, then added another pair in the final stanza.
 
Gallant, a 6-foot-2, 200-pound centre who was Detroit's third-round selection in the 2017 NHL Draft, extended his point-scoring streak to four games with a 3-5-8 record in that span. After a slow start to the season, the 24-year-old management sophomore now has 23 points, including 10 goals, in 21 games.

He was aided and abetted by Eric Uba, who had a pair of goals and one helper.  The management junior from Kitchener, Ont., now has a team-leading 14 goals and  24 points in 23 contests.
 
Sophomore William Rouleau, the team's leading point-getter from St. Basile de Portneuf, Que., also notched a pair, including the game-winner. He has an 8-20-28 record in 23 outings.

Rounding out the scoring was sophomore Mathieu Gagnon of Gatineau, Que., and freshman Xavier Fortin of Mirabel, Que.

McGill, which had a 39-35 edge in shots, went 1-for-3 on the power-play and killed off three of four shorthanded situations. The Redbirds now have the second-best power-play success rate (31.7%) in the nation, trailing UNB (33.9). McGill's PK unit continues to lead the country at (89.5%).

Alexis Shank of Laval, Que., made his sixth consecutive start between the pipes for the Redbirds. The economics junior kicked aside 34 of 35 shots for the win, improving his record to 13-6. For Nipissing, Zach Roy conceded seven goals on 39 shots as his record tumbled to 5-8.

This was the Redbirds only scheduled meeting of the season against Nipissing, which hails from North Bay, Ont., as McGill improved its lifetime mark to 28-6 against the Lakers.

McGill will travel to York (3-17-3) and Ontario Tech (13-8-2), Jan. 26 and 27, respectively. The Redbirds will then head across town to Concordia for the Corey Cup contest on Jan. 31, before closing out the schedule with a home-and-home series against Carleton (Feb. 3 in Montreal) and in the nation's capital (Feb. 10).

SCORING SUMMARY
 
OUA STANDINGS & STATS
 
SOURCE
Earl Zukerman
Sports Information Officer
Athletics & Recreation
McGill University
514-983-7012 (cell.)
www.mcgillathletics.ca
earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca