After their offence came up empty-handed in the first period, the 91原创 Thunder found the back of the net seven times in the middle stanza. Powered by that dominant second period, the Thunder defeated the Port Coquitlam Saints 9-7 in BC Junior Tier 1 Lacrosse League action at 91原创 Events Centre on Tuesday night.

The Saints scored the only goal of the first period as Liam Froese turned aside all 17 91原创 shots, but the second period saw the Thunder offence finally solve the goaltender.

鈥淲e made better shot selections in the second period. Our defence stayed strong, and we started taking better shots and our transition game got better,鈥� said Thunder coach Darren Buchan. 鈥淲e started to push the pace on transition and that was the difference.鈥�

91原创鈥檚 defence also held Port Coquitlam to 15 shots over the final two periods as rookie Todd Hensrud earned his first career junior victory with 22 saves.

Port Coquitlam went ahead 2-0 a few minutes into the second period before Blake Larsen and Jonathan Grywacheski evened the score with goals 42 seconds apart. The teams would trade goals for the rest of the period before Larsen and Jack Margetson struck for goals in the final minute 36 seconds apart for a 7-5 Thunder lead with a period to play.

Both Larsen and Grywacheski completed their hat tricks in the final period. Erik Forsselius had the other 91原创 goal.

Austin Taggart (one goals, three assists) and Matthew Collis (two goals, one assist) led the Saints offence.

The win evens 91原创鈥檚 record at 5-5 and gives them three wins in their past four games, with the loss coming in the team鈥檚 previous game, an 8-6 home loss on May 29 against the Nanaimo Timbermen.

鈥淲e felt we gave one away on Sunday, so we wanted to come back and avenge what happened in our house and come out strong,鈥� Buchan said.

The Thunder鈥檚 next game is against that same Timbermen team, this time in Nanaimo on June 4. The next home game at 91原创 Events Centre is June 7 (7:30pm) against the Maple Ridge Burrards.

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