Box Score Box Score

Lucas Gore stopped all 31 shots he faced to notch his first career shutout as the University of Regina's men's hockey team moved back over the .500 mark with a 3-0 road win over Mount Royal on Friday night at the Flames Community Arena in Calgary.

Brock Appleyard continued his recent tear with a pair of goals and Brayden Nargang scored the other for the Cougars, who improve to 10-9-2 with the victory and are just one point away from clinching their first playoff berth since their 2008-09 run to the conference semifinals.

Appleyard – who now has five goals and seven points in his last five games – got the visiting Cougars on the board with five minutes left in the opening period with a shot that beat Mount Royal goalie Justin Cote over the shoulder. James Friedel and Troy Hunter drew the assists on Appleyard's goal.

Nargang extended the lead to 2-0 five minutes into the second with a deflection off a Friedel point shot. Friedel's assist gave the rookie defenceman his first multi-point game as a Cougar, while Liam Brennan was credited with the other helper on the goal.

In the third, Mount Royal was called for four minors in the span of eight and a half minutes and had to kill off a short 5-on-3 at one point, but the U of R wasn't able to capitalize despite peppering Cote with 15 shots in the final period. The visiting Cougars held on to the two-goal lead until late in the contest, when Appleyard's empty netter capped the scoring with 27 seconds left in the game.

Cote ended up saving 35 of 37 shots in the loss for Mount Royal, which was scoreless on its four opportunities with the man advantage. The U of R finished 0-for-5 on the power play.

The two teams will meet again on Saturday night at the Flames Community Arena in Calgary. Game time is scheduled for 7 p.m. MST.