Story by Brock Ormond

Photo Courtesy: Ed McPherson, OJHL Images

A strong start and a good finish was the winning formula for the Wellington Dukes on Saturday night in Mississauga.

Wellington jumped out to a 3-0 lead after the first period and withstood a Chargers rally to take a 5-2 victory on the road, despite missing key players like Andrew Rinaldi, Daniel Panetta and Quinn Hanna from the lineup and employing 11 forwards in the lineup.

That number would dwindle early in the game, as Dawson Ellis was given a game misconduct for a fight with Tye McSorley. Tyson Gilmour would open the scoring under seven minutes in on a short-side wrist shot after being set up by Tim Fallowfield and Zach Uens inside the offensive zone. The goal was Gilmour's 13th of the season. The lead would be bumped up to 2-0 at 11:25, as Keenan Eddy took a centering pass from Gilmour, patiently waited out Chargers goalie Luca Durante on a powerplay and found an open corner for his seventh of the season. Elijah Gonsalves assisted on the tally as well. The Dukes kept the ball rolling, causing havoc for Mississauga with their speed and tenacity and were again rewarded for it in the final two minutes of the frame. After a Ben Addison dump-in, affiliate call-up Logan White barreled into the corner and separated the Chargers defence from the play, allowing Madoka Suzuki to slither towards the net and smack in his own rebound for his eighth of the year.

The Dukes maintained their 3-0 lead through the second period, but the Chargers were able to find their legs and some chances on Olivier Lafreniere to make the visitors work for their ice. Late in the stanza, each team lost another player following a second scrap between Zach Nelson of Wellington and Brandon Yeamans of Mississauga, leaving both with 16 players each.

Eventually, Mississauga's persistence paid off just 94 seconds into the third. Relentless forechecking by Taylor Barnett and Sheldon Nunes deep in the Wellington zone forced a turnover and led to a marker for Nunes to put the Chargers on the board. The hosts were able to pull within one later in the period just three seconds into a powerplay at 12:32 thanks to Matthew Brassard, but it was as close as they would come on this night. Rookie Jacob Vreugdenhil utilized his speed to jet from end to end and hit Adam Usinger for a tap-in at 15:38. The insurance marker was Usinger's fifth of the season and was also aided by Suzuki. A Gonsalves empty net in the final two minutes sealed Wellington's 17th victory of 2018-19.

Lafreniere was solid between the pipes for the Dukes in earning his 15th individual win of the season, making 29 saves. The final shots went in Wellington's favour, 42-31. The Dukes also continue to be road warriors this campaign, improving their record away from Lehigh Arena to 12-6-0-1.

The final road game before Christmas happens on Wednesday night back in the Toronto area to face the St. Michael's Buzzers at 7:30 p.m.