The Lakehead Thunderwolves let a third period lead slip away for the second night in a row, falling 7-6 in overtime to the first-place Windsor Lancers in front of a crowd of 2610 at the Fort William Gardens on Saturday.
Lakehead got on the board first on a power play goal by Jake Wright just 6:44 into the game, but Windsors Drew Palmer and Isak Quakenbush scored two goals just 36 seconds apart to give the Lancers a 2-1 lead near the midway point of the first period.
Mike Hammond replied for the Thunderwolves less than a minute later by beating Windsor goalie Parker Van Buskirk to even the score, but at Matt Beaudoin blast at 13:44 eluded Wolves netminder Justin McDonald to give Windsor a 3-2 lead heading into the second.
Lakeheads Jake Wright notched his second power play goal of the game at 7:48 of the middle frame to knot the score at 3-3, but Dylan Denhomme put the Lancers up 4-3 at the 18:06 mark.
Then with only 17 seconds left in the period, Lakeheads Kelin Ainsworth fired a one-timer just underneath the crossbar to deadlock the score at 4-4 heading into the third period.
The Wolves built on that momentum when Keith Grondin fooled Van Buskirk with wrist shot high on the blocker side 1:19 into the third, and when Nathan Bruyere scored just over two minutes later to give Lakehead a 6-4 lead, back-up goaltender Taylor Speed was sent in to replace Van Buskirk in the Windsor net.
Penalties proved costly for the Wolves however, as Palmer drew the Lancers to within one goal at 7:24, and then Ryan Green tied the game up with only 1:18 left on the clock, with both Windsor goals coming when Lakehead was a man short.
At 3:52 of the overtime period, Windsors Spencer Pommels netted the winner for the second night in row to give the Lancers the victory.
Shots on goal in the wide-open affair were 40-37 in Windsors favor.
The Molson Three Stars of the game were:
1.Kenny Bradford, Windsor
2.Jake Wright, Lakehead
3.Keith Grondin, Lakehead
The Wolves will travel to Ottawa next weekend for a pair of games at Carleton on Friday and Saturday night.