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THUNDER BAY – The Wisconsin Lumberjacks may be an expansion team, but for weeks they've believed they could beat anyone they faced.
Now they know it for sure.
The Lumberjacks rolled into Fort William Gardens on Wednesday night and chopped down the first-place Thunder Bay North Stars for the first time in eight meetings this season, scoring four straight goals to break open a 1-1 tie.
Backed by a pair of Joel Matthews goals and the standout 31-save performance from goaltender Hunter Adams, the Lumberjacks went on to down the North Stars 5-2.
“It tells us as a team that we can beat anyone in this league and we're a contender. The rough start that we had at the beginning of the season, we're starting to prove to ourselves that it was a real rough patch and we can actually come out and be a real team this year and play well,” said Matthews, who added a helper and now has 30 points in 30 games in 2019-20.
It was the fourth straight win for Wisconsin (12-21-3), their sixth win in their past 10 outings, pulling them to within two points of fifth-place Fort Frances.
Matthews scored the game's first goal, taking a pass from Ryan Green at the top of the slot and firing a a high wrist shot past North Stars goaltender Dylan Kosik at 10:30 of the first, the lone goal of the opening period.
Ben Erwin evened the score with exactly six minutes to go in the second, punching the puck past Adams. But the game didn't stay deadlocked for long, thanks to a defensive lapse by Thunder Bay, allowing Ryley Cardinal to finish of the tic-tac-toe play with the Lumberjacks on a rare 4-on-1 break.
Matthews added his second of the night early in the third, intercepting a clearing pass from newly acquired North Star Adam Morgan, leaving him all alone with no one but Kosik left to defend the Thunder Bay goal.
“That one felt good. It was a little bit of puck luck, but also I think the d-man came in with a little bit more confidence that he should have had. He's not going to be putting that through my legs, I hope,” Matthews said.
North Stars coach Rob DeGagne agreed his team, whose most recently scheduled game was postponed because of weather, came out flat and never really got going.
The mistakes were unacceptable.
“We've got to be smarter than that. It's not pick-up hockey on a frozen pond somewhere,” DeGagne said.
“That wasn't a good play and I'm sure (Adam) would like to have it back.”
Cameron Birkeland and Matt Turnbull scored 90 seconds apart in the third to stretch the lead to 5-1. Thunder Bay's Nikolas Campbell added his 14th of the season with just over five minutes to play, but the Stars would solve Adams no more.
“You can't say enough about Adamsd tonight,” said Wisconsin coach Douglas Lein. “The kid made saves when he had to.”
It was the third straight win for the Arlington, Texas native, who is 5-4-0 in 10 games this season.
The Lumberjacks host second-place Red Lake on Friday and Saturday night, while Thunder Bay (23-10-3) will look to get back in the win column at home against Dryden.
FIRST PERIOD
Scoring: 1. Wisconsin, Matthews 8 (Green) 10:30. Penalties: Anttonen TB (cross checking) 11:48, A. Cardinal WIS (cross checking) 13:07, Fortin TB (cross checking) 18:23.
SECOND PERIOD
Scoring: 2. Thunder Bay, A. Erwin (Bruchkowski, Morgan) 14:00. 3. Wisconsin, R. Cardinal (Shetland, Jones) 17:36. Penalties: Leishman TB (slashing) 1:58, Vecchio TB (roughing) 4:27, Matthews WIS (slashing) 12:01, Hunt WIS (boarding) 17:58.
THIRD PERIOD
Scoring: 4. Wisconsin, Matthews 9 (unassisted) 4:24. 5. Wisconsin, Birkeland (Matthews, Bocken) 8:35. 6. Wisconsin, Turnbull (Solema, Lundgren) 10:05. 7. Thunder Bay, Campbell 14 (Foreshew, Nicholas) 14:38 pp. Penalties: A. Erwin TB (slashing) 5:07, B. Erwin TB (boarding) 11:40, A. Cardinal WIS (slashing) 14:07, B. Erwin TB (charging) 19:39.
GAME DATA – SOG – Wisconsin 9-14-15-38, Thunder Bay 14-10-9-33; Power plays (goals-chances) – Wisconsin (0-7) Thunder Bay (2-3); Goaltenders – Wisconsin: Hunter Adams, Thunder Bay: Dylan Kosik (29 shots, 24 saves), Emerson Mercer (10:05, third); A: 204.
