Miners and Owls skate to hard fought 1-1 draw.

Game Story

Miners and Owls skate to hard fought 1-1 draw.

CANADIAN PRESS (Sudbury, ON)

A pair of second period goals would be all the scoring in this contest, as the Sudbury Miners and Portland Owls skated to a 1-1 tie at the Vale Centre on Saturday night.

“I think it was a well-earned result to be honest," said Miners coach Derek Sutton.  "At times, we carried the game and it was nice to see all four lines were rolling pretty good.  We just played a solid 60 minutes…..just wish we could have popped one more."

Jake Allen made 20 saves for the Miners (10-30-2), while goalie Scott Darling turned aside 27 shots to preserve the tie for the Owls (16-22-4).

After a scoreless first period, the Miners would open the scoring early in the second as Tobias Reider beat picked up a loose puck in the neutral zone and sped down the wing to beat Darling for his 12th goal of the year.  Vincent Trocheck and Radim Vrbata would draw the assists.

The Owls would respond mid-way through the period.   Jordie Benn could not find the handle on a Shea Theodore pass and would end up turning the puck over at the Miners blue-line.  This allowed Owls winger Mikko Rantenan, who had been pressuring Benn, to pick up the loose puck, and beat him in a foot race to the net.  Rantenan’s quick wrist shot beat Allen cleanly to tie the game at 1.

Despite numerous chances, that would be all the scoring the two teams could muster on this night.

MINERS NUGGETS

- Miners defenceman Darnell Nurse suffered another injury on Saturday.  He left mid-way through the second period after a collision with Owls forward Austin Watson.  Initial reports is that Nurse will be out indefinitely.

- With his goal, Tobias Reider now joins Radim Vrbata as the leading scorer on the Miners scoring leader with 26 points.

- Goaltender Jake Allen will get the back-to-back start on Sunday as the league-leading Calgary Chinook visit the Vale Centre.  Game time is 7pm.