The Burlington Cougars took home an important two points at home versus the St. Michaels Buzzers in a rare afternoon affair on Tuesday. There was no shortage of goals in this contest, as a pair of shorthanded and powerplay goals lifted the Cougars to an 8-6 win.

Andrew Salt opened the scoring with his first of two shorthanded goals on the afternoon. Salt managed to sneak past the Buzzers’ defence and fire a shot off of the crossbar and in. The Buzzers would answer with two goals of their own in the latter stages of the period.

Matthew Dunsmoor, making his 22nd start of the season, made 17 saves in the first period to keep the Cougars within one. He would stop 41 of 47 shots, including 18 in the third, en route to his 13th win of the season. He now owns a 2.69 goals against average and sits ninth in the OJHL with a solid .925 save percentage.

Dunsmoor would get some quality run support in the second stanza, as Burlington tallied four goals to take a 5-3 lead. The Cougars dominated the period, outshooting St. Michaels 27 to 7, while having nine different players with at least one point in the period. Matthew Hobbs and Evan Benwell each put up two points in the frame, registering three points each in the game.

Salt would tally his second goal with a man-down less than a minute into the period, followed by a Mitchell Morrison goal to extend their lead to a comfortable 7-3. A little too comfortable perhaps, as the visitors stormed back with three unanswered goals to pull themselves within one. Dunsmoor would lock it down in the final minutes while Keanan Stewart put the game away with an empty-net goal.

Defenseman Clark Hiebert had a game-high 4 assists, including a helper on each of Salt’s shorthanded markers. The blueliner now has 20 points (1 G, 19 A) in 39 games played this season.

The win sets the Cougars’ record at 19-17-2-2, good for 42 points, tying them with Brampton for third in the West Division standings. Brampton currently holds the edge with a single game in hand. With 14 games remaining in the regular season, each point is crucial in an attempt to avoid a first round match-up with an exceptional Oakville team.

The Cougars’ quest for the playoffs resumes January 13, as they travel to Pickering for a Sunday night game against the Panthers. Puck drop is set for 7:30 pm.

- Written by Chris Perrelli