Connor Gillis scored a pair of goals early, while Mik Denkenberger netted one goal and added an assist. Ethan Knight also scored for the Red Storm as Mason Stoddard added two assists and Austin Warner chipped in with one. Saranac Lake outshot the Griffins 15-7.

While trailing by two, Boquet Valley connected on a pair of goals in the first half. Ezra Wekin added the first, before assisting on Carson Leibeck’s game-tying goal with seven minutes left in the half.

“(We had) lots of shots, lots of chances, so I was happy with the offense,” Saranac Lake’s head coach Brad Rafferty said. “(But Boquet Valley) pushed back and kind of made it nerve-racking for a while. I mean, they missed the net by inches on a handful, so they definitely made it challenging for us.”

With around a minute left before intermission, Denkenberger collected a through ball from Stoddard and rifled it into the back of the net to put 3-2. Knight essentially closed out the game when he scored with six minutes left in the second half on a pass from Warner.

Saranac Lake’s Lukas Miemis makes a play on the ball during Wednesday’s home game against Boquet Valley. (Enterprise photo — Parker O’Brien)

While the Red Storm improved to 4-1 overall with the win, its previous victories have come down to the wire, with two decided by just one goal. Rafferty said he was glad to finally see his team close out a game.

“It’s been a while. We’ve had opportunity (after) opportunity and we just can’t put a game away,” he said. “It was nice to finally put a game away and relax for the last five minutes.”

Gillis gave the Red Storm the lead when he used passes from Denkenberger to score a few minutes into the match. Gillis then extended his team’s lead with a shot from in close after collecting a pass from Stoddard. Rafferty said getting those two early goals was huge.

“It’s a motivation boost right off the bat to begin the game,” he said. “It deflates another team, too, for a while. It took them a while to recover and push back on us.”

Gillis, one of 13 seniors on the team, now has three goals in just five games this season. Rafferty said Gillis has been fantastic this year.

Saranac Lake’s Connor Gillis makes a play on the ball during Wednesday’s home game against Boquet Valley. (Enterprise photo — Parker O’Brien)

“Last year was his first year playing in quite a long time — in like years — and his improvement, his speed, his turns are good and he’s in the right spots,” he said.

The Griffins’ Trenton Lyon recorded six saves in net and Justin Lushia totaled two for the Red Storm. Rafferty said there are still a few things his defense needs to work on, but overall, they held the fort down pretty well.

“And Justin came up big when we needed him,” he said. “Shout out to them and (Leibeck), too. He’s a handful. He was a challenge for our guys to keep under control.”

Saranac Lake will take on the Chazy Eagles at 6:30 p.m. today on the road. The Eagles are 6-1 overall.