SLP’s Oren Preston gets ready to score his first career varsity hockey goal in Tuesday’s sectional quarterfinal playoff game against Northeastern Clinton at the Saranac Lake Civic Center. (News photo — Parker O’Brien)

SARANAC LAKE — The Saranac Lake Placid boys hockey team had been in a bit of an offensive slump, but that might be over.

Just 35 seconds into Tuesday’s Section VII quarterfinal game, SLP’s Will Landriault connected on a goal, sparking a dominating offensive performance for his squad, while helping secure a 9-2 victory over the Northeastern Clinton Cougars.

The senior captain later netted three more scores to finish the night with a career-high four goals for a team had lost four straight games heading into this contest.

“It’s nice to see when guys that are in their last hoorah get out there and have that work ethic, be where he needs to be to score some ugly goals, but have some other goals,” SLP head coach Josh Spanburgh said. “I’m very proud of Will to be able to put four in one game is always a feat for any team. I’m very proud of him and the whole team.”

SLP’s Ayden McCormick also had a hat trick and chipped in with an assist. Teammates Oren Preston and Braydon Harvey also scored for SLP, which improved to 7-11-1 overall.

Carson St. Louis had four assists, while Ryan Bartholomew had three. Mackaid Nicholas and Gerald Woodruff had two assists each and Harvey also had an assist.

“We’ve been on a little bit of a down swing with getting some pucks in (the net),” Spanburgh said. “And today, being able to get nine goals really showed that we’re getting a little bit better. We’re moving pucks and getting pucks to the net and it was just an all around effort.”

SLP’s goaltender Cassidy Goodman stopped 32 shots — including more than 20 in a row to open the game. Goodman, a senior, held the Cougars scoreless, until Scott Wrye broke through early in the third period.

Hayden Schad also scored for NCCS, with 31 seconds left in the final period, but those two goals were sandwiched between three SLP goals. Landon Grabie, Karsen Trim, Baylon Cronkrite and Carter Garceau each had an assist for the Cougars which ended their season with a 2-18-1 overall record. Goaltenders Greyson Lafountain and Camden Badger combined for 25 saves.

Following Landriault’s quick goal to open the contest, McCormick and Harvey extended the advantage with scores on the power play and while short handed, respectively.

Landriault netted a pair of goals in the second period, while McCormick scored his second of the game and 30th goal of the season, becoming the first-ever SLP player since the two schools merged in 2019 to reach 30 goals in a season.

McCormick later pushed his Section VII-leading goal mark to 31 with a goal in the third period, which was set up by his line mates St. Louis and Nicholas.

Less than two minutes later, Preston, a freshman, buried his career varsity goal on a breakaway after collecting a pass from Woodruff. Landriault closed the scoring after netting a cross-ice pass from Bartholomew.

SLP finished the night with 13 totals assist, Spanburgh said the team has been really good at creating quality opportunities for each other and playing together.

“We had a really nice dinner the other night at the River Trail Beerworks,” he said. “It was just a little bit of camaraderie and it was a bit of family-centric, team-centric, and we were like ‘We can do this, we have the ability to go out and play three periods,’ and ‘We’re going to have some success’ and tonight we clearly did that.”

Up next, SLP will take on the Beekmantown Eagles in the Section VII semifinal contest at 8 p.m. today at the SUNY Plattsburgh Fieldhouse. The Eagles are 11-7-2 overall.

“We had a little bit of success against them in our first game with a tie here, lost up there, but kind of battled back in the third,” Spanburgh said. “So if we play three periods I always said that we can compete with anybody in our league, and hopefully in the state. If we can replicate what we just did a little bit with a lot of hardwork then anything is possible.”