RED LAKE, Ont. -- The Thunder Bay North Stars rode a four-goal first period to a second straight 6-4 road win over the Red Lake Miners.
The weekend sweep inched them closer to clinching top spot in the Superior International Junior Hockey League standings and home-ice advantage throughout the playoffs.
The North Stars (33-15-3) jumped eight points in front of third place Thief River Falls,who lost 4-3 to Dryden, and need one point to clinch a first-round bye.
Leeam Tivers, Jacob Anttonen, Joel Willan and Jacob Brown tallied in the opening period for the Stars, who chased Red Lake starter Zach Willms from the net in the first 4:24 of the contest, scoring three times on five shots.
Samuel Gendron took over and the Miners, who began their comeback in earnest in the second.
Morgan Venne and Shaye Sommerfeld cut the Thunder Bay lead in half with back-to-back tallies. Willan added his second of the night to make it 5-2 with 1:25 left in the period, but Spencer Milne beat Seth McKay with 13 seconds to go to close the gap to two again.
Jett Leishman and Milne traded goals in the third.
Nikolas Campbell had four assists for the North Stars, who went 4-2-0 on their just-completed six-game road trips.
Thunder Bay, winners of four in a row, out-shot Red Lake 37-27 on the night. The Miners dropped to 30-17-5 with the loss, their third straight, and are four points back with four games to go.
Red Lake hosts last place Fort Frances on Monday, while Thunder Bay gets the Lakers on Friday night at home.
