A tough third period was the Wellington Dukes undoing on Saturday night.
The Aurora Tigers struck four times in the final regulation period to defeat the Dukes 5-3 in both teams’ first games back off the Christmas break.
Wellington got a fast start with Landon Marleau potting his 16th of the year from Evan Erwin just 32 seconds into the game and held onto the lead through the rest of the first period.
Aurora broke away with a tying marker shorthanded off the stick of Cole Crawford halfway through the second.
Tristan Williams wired home a go-ahead goal late in the session for the Dukes from Will Mitchell and Carson Albert, but Aurora was about to take over in the third.
Charlie Hotles and Jonathan Cirone (another shorthanded marker) scored more than a minute apart to help the Tigers jump ahead, but Zack Carrier managed to find the net to equal the score at three on a powerplay, assisted by Zach Mascard and Cole Ellis.
Midway through the period, Thomas Leone stuck home the eventual game-winner past Colby Booth-Housego for the Tigers and Cirone added an empty-netter in the dying seconds to put the Dukes away.
Wellington is off until Wednesday afternoon at 1:30 p.m. when the Milton Menace come to Lehigh Arena for the only time this season.
