It took the dramatics of overtime but Wellington Dukes salvaged their weekend on Sunday against the visiting Aurora Tigers.

Coming off a tough home defeat at the hands of the Haliburton Huskies two nights prior, the Dukes managed to capture the full complement of points against the Tabbies by bagging a powerplay goal late in the third period to force the extra session then a mad end-to-end dash by Will Mitchell that created a game winning tally.

With the win, Wellington moved to 13-11-6, two points back of the sixth place St. Mikes Buzzers but with three games in hand. The Dukes are on the road this week, first stopping off in North York on Tuesday afternoon before heading to Father David Bauer Arena for a Thursday night date with the Buzz in a four point affair.

Wellington is back home on Friday for a contest with the Newmarket Hurricanes.

Good Start

The last time Aurora was in Wellington on October 12, the Tigers counted four times in the first period in a 7-5 victory that the Dukes could never quite get back to equal footing in.

Perhaps that was in Wellington’s mind as the locals erupted for three goals in the opening stanza.

Wellington’s Landon Marleau took a Blake Berthiaume pass out of the corner and went top shelf at 7:54 to open the scoring. Sunday’s contest was a Teddy Bear Toss event and scores of stuffed animals came pouring onto the ice.

Aurora’s Charlie Hotles evened things up with a power play goal about four minutes later but Wellington would light the lamp twice in the waning minutes of the first to stake a 3-1 lead.

Vince Albanese forced a turnover in the Aurora corner and Sacha Trudel collected a loose puck and went low glove side at 17:51 to push Wellington in front 2-1.

Less than a minute later, Mr. Marleau once again was afforded time and space to fire thanks to forechecking work by linemates Mr. Berthiaume and Evan Erwin. The San Jose, CA native made no mistake, picking the low corner on Aurora Tigers starter Matt Humphries who had a case for a strongly worded conversation with his defencemen during intermission.

In the second, Aurora had a stronger period in their own end and it led to a pair of goals from the visitors that tied the contest up at 3-3.

The Comeback Kids

In the third, Wellington temporarily restored the lead at the 1:27 mark. From just inside the Wellington blue line, Liam Campbell chipped the puck off the boards to an open space and created a partial breakaway. His snapshot from the hash marks was true and bulged Aurora’s twine tent for a 4-3 Dukes lead.

But Wellington faltered. Goals off the sticks of Cole Crawford and Cayden Smith left the Dukes in arrears by one inside the final five minutes of play.

Fortune smiled on the Dukes this snowy day in Wellington however. Martin Maryanovsky highsticked Mr. Marleau and the Dukes went looking for their first power play goal of the afternoon.

It was a chaotic, heart-stopping sequence in the Tigers end with Aurora clinging to a one goal lead by the skin of their claws. Finally, Zach Carrier collected a loose puck at the goal line and went top bunk with 3:13 left to even the ice at 4-4.

In the 3-on-3 overtime period, Mr. Mitchell spooled up in his own end and came streaking up the left side of the ice. Getting to the face off dot on Mr. Humphries’ blocker side, the Kingstonian went five hole with 3:45 left in the period to win it for Wellington.

Wellington’s Royden Smith picked up his sixth win of the season, making 34 stops in the process.

Bitten by the Huskies

On Friday, the Dukes couldn’t solve Haliburton netminder Owen Edwards or the iron that framed his piped pavilion. The Dukes hit cross bars and posts with such regularity in the first two periods that one would have thought Lehigh Arena was hosting a Christmas concert.

After a scoreless first, the opening goal proved to be vital and it was the Huskies taking a bite out of the Dukes at 6:45 of the first. With Wellington hemmed in their zone, Ryan Gosse collected a weak Dukes clearing attempt inside the blue line and beat Colby Booth-Housego five hole for the ice breaker.

Haliburton doubled their lead later in the frame. Issac Larmond took a feed from below the goal line and beat Mr. Booth-Housego cleanly for a power play goal at 12:11.

And while a Wellington penalty was fully served in the late going of the second, the Dukes skater had barely taken a stride to return to the play as Haliburton’s Brady Coe swept his fourth of the year into the local’s net. The de facto power play goal was a dagger, coming with just 20 seconds left in the middle stanza. 

Wellington’s lone goal came in third. Mr. Erwin tapped home his 8th of the campaign at 8:07 to spoil Mr. Edwards’s shutout bid. But the Huskies bagged a couple of power play goals late to salt away a 5-1 win.