Four goals by Dylan Williamson and a shutout performance by Adam Maida powered the Nelson Leafs to an 8-0 victory over the Golden Rockets on Saturday night.
It was the second win in consecutive nights for the Leafs who outlasted the Border Bruins 8-6 on Friday night in Grand Forks.
The pair of victories brings Nelson’s winning streak to four games and gives them a four point lead on second place Beaver Valley.
Saturday night’s contest was all Leafs who dominated from start to finish.
Along with Williamson’s four goals, Nelson got additional markers from Jay Sidhu, Robson Cramer and two from Aaron Dunlap.
Mitchell Privett stopped 24 of 32 shots in the Rockets net.
After the game, Maida was congratulated by his teammates who seemed equally happy with the goose egg.
“It’s exciting for sure. I’ve been waiting a long time,” said Maida.
“It was great. You know, the boys really helped me out tonight, made my job really easy. It’s exciting to get that one out of the way.”
While he didn’t have many saves to make, Maida was there when needed. He said the team appears to be putting everything together.
“I think we were solid, from our defencman to our forwards, penalty kill, powerplay, everything.”
With two minutes to go in the game and the Leafs up 8-0, the local squad took a minor penalty, giving Golden a powerplay and a chance to break the shutout. But Maida said it had no impact on his play.
“During a game, I’m not thinking about the shutout at all. It’s there, obviously in the back of your mind, but the important thing is to get two points.”
While Maida was the defensive hero of the game, Williamson was a force on offence.
“I’m pretty happy (about the four goals), but the win is better. I got lucky tonight with a couple of pucks. I got my stick on it and they went in,” said Williamson.
He said offensively the team has just clicked in recent games.
“I think everyone just stepped up and played their game tonight. Everyone was playing their role.”
Leafs head coach Dave McLellan said sometimes goals just come in bunches and right now Nelson has plenty to spare.
“It was really good to see our powerplay get going. The last two night our powerplay has really worked well for us,” he said.
He said the game plan, to control the neutral zone, create separation and use their speed, worked very well. He also complimented Maida on his performance.
“It was big for Adam to have a big game. We didn’t put him into bad situations tonight. We allowed him to play his game and it was a really good game for Adam and we were really glad he got the shutout.”
On Friday, the Leafs travelled to Grand Forks and won 8-6 over the Border Bruins.
Robson Cramer led the Nelson attack with two goals while singles went to Sam Weber,
Dylan Williamson, Darnel St. Pierre, Brendan Smith, Matt MacDonald and Austin Seaman.
Brett Soles stopped 26 of 32 shots for the win.
McLellan said he liked the game overall, despite allowing six goals.
“We kind of made a few mistakes. I think we got really complacent after we got up on them. We allowed them to score a couple of goals that we would certainly like back.”
Nelson’s next home game is Saturday, November 1 when the Columbia Valley Rockies come to town. Puck drops at 7 p.m. at the Nelson and District Community Complex.
