By Tina Comeau
The Pictou County Crushers scored twice within 43 seconds and with under three minutes remaining in Friday night’s game in Yarmouth to come within a goal of catching up with the Mariners. But an empty net goal by Colin Campbell in the final minute of the Jan. 25 game secured the 5-3 win for the home team.
Pictou outshot the Mariners 35 to 26, but more of the Mariners shots found the back of the net. Goalie Chase Gaudet stopped 32 of 35 shots in the Mariners’ win, while Brandon Thibeau stopped 22 of 26 shots in Pictou’s loss.
Aside from the empty net goal at the end, a couple of other pivotal points in the game included a penalty shot goal by Mariners newbie Paul Lamoureux to extend Yarmouth’s lead to 3-1 in the second period, and the Mariners’ penalty kill on a five-on-three advantage that Pictou had for over a minute and a half in the third period when the Mariners were still only leading by two goals.
A recap of scoring in the game:
• 1st period:
Yarmouth: Rodney Mahoney 'C' (Josh Desmond, Kyle Campbell) - PP, 13:08
• 2nd period:
Pictou: Mitchell Deruelle, , - unassisted, 1:41
Yarmouth: Colin Campbell 'A', (Josh Desmond, Kyle Campbell), - PP, 3:12
Yarmouth: Paul Lamoureux, , - penalty shot, 16:08
• 3rd period:
Yarmouth: Kyle Campbell, (Ben MacSwain, Colin Campbell 'A'), 15:11
Pictou: John Mullally, (Cody Squires, Devan Gunn "A"), 17:12
Pictou: Bruce Hornbrook, (Devan Gunn "A", John Mullally), 17:55
Yarmouth: Colin Campbell 'A', (Ben MacSwain), - empty net, 19:18
Elsewhere on Friday night the Truro Bearcats defeated the Bridgewater Lumberjacks 4-2, keeping them three points in the standings in the Eastlink Division behind Yarmouth, which sits in first place with 57 points.
Saturday night the Mariners are on the road for a game in Amherst.
Truro plays Dieppe Saturday night and Amherst on Sunday.
