Goaltending is not likely to be the deciding factor in the first round of the playoffs for the Greater Sudbury Cubs - but it will most certainly loom large as the team looks to travel the post-season road to a threepeat in 2026.

So for as much as the 15 goals scored in the first two games of their NOJHL quarter-final series with the Kirkland Lake Gold Miners is appreciated, the 91.6% save percentage posted by netminder Iain Wintle might be leaving the team staff even more pleased.

The 21 year-old native of Bowmanville turned aside 29 of the 30 shots that he faced Friday night in Walden as Sudbury bounced Kirkland Lake 6-1, once again putting this one away in the third, outscoring the Gold Miners 3-1.

But with Wintle standing tall and his teammates limiting quality scoring chances, there was a pretty decent chance that tallies from Mason Walker, Kaedan Long and Noah Aboflan in the opening 40 minutes would have been more than enough to lead the two-time defending league champs to victory even before Lucas Antonioni, Walker (with his second) and Spencer Horgan capped off the scoring parade for the homeside.

There was just 1:33 showing on the clock when Daniel Rusu converted on the power play for the only goal that KL would manage as the Cubs now take a 2-0 series lead on the road, with games three and four set for Monday and Tuesday in Kirkland Lake.