Miners blanked by Tigers as scoring struggles continue.

CANADIAN PRESS (Sudbury, ON)

Breakfast may well become Pekka Rinne’s favorite time of day.  The tall Finnish stopper dined on the struggling Sudbury Miners to post a 24-save shutout and pick up another win for the red-hot Hamilton Tigers.

Seth Jones and Max Domi scored third period goals for the Tigers and sent the Miners to their fourth straight defeat.  The Miners are winless versus their division rival with an 0-3 record.

"Nobody here wants to lose. Everybody wants to win," Miners rookie Brandon Montour said of his team's latest defeat. "We have to continue to stay positive. Hopefully things will turn around here. Every young team goes through this. We just have to stay positive."

Hamilton was all over the Miners in the first frame and again in the second but each time were denied by Miners goaltender Jake Allen.  Allen would make 30 stops in the loss, many of which were high scoring chances.

Turnovers and defensive miscues would end up costing the Miners once again on Friday morning. Defenceman Adam Larsson while being pressured by Tigers forward Anze Kopitar , tried a soft dump out which was immediately knocked down by Jones.  His quick wrister beat Allen for a 1-0 lead, and that would be all the Tigers would need.

Despite being outshot 32-24, the Miners were not without their chances but the recurring theme this year is their lack of scoring finish.

"Right now, we're getting chances and they don't seem to be going in," said Miners coach Claude Julien.

"You've got to stick with it.  Everyone's disappointed. I know our fans are. But we're competing. You just hope your luck turns eventually and you start scoring goals."

MINERS NUGGETS

- With the loss, the Miners now sport a 7-20-1 record and sit second last in the CCHL. 

- Defenseman Darnell Nurse will participate in full contact drills over the weekend.  He will be back in the line-up on Tuesday night.

- After a brief weekend break, the return to action on Tuesday night, as they travel to Georgetown to take on the Millers.  Game time is 7:00pm.