Playing shorthanded due to a slew of injuries, the Nipissing Lakers men's hockey team put together a strong effort Wednesday night on home ice.

The Lakers battled the Ryerson Rams at Memorial Gardens and earned a single, hard-fought point after a 3-2 shootout loss.

After a scoreless first half of the period, the Rams struck twice in less than a minute to take a two goal lead.

A pair of former OHLers, Hayden McCool and Zach Shankar found the back of the net to give Ryerson early control of the game.

Down 2-0 late in the second period, Lakers defenceman Harrison Harper sent a long cross-ice pass to Kyle Lewis who used his speed and entered the Rams zone.

He made no mistake, driving to the net and tucking the puck into the corner to get Nipissing on the board.

The score remained 2-1 in favour of the Rams until five minutes left in the third period when Deverick Ottereyes took a perfect pass from Drake Lindsay.

Ottereyes out-muscled his man in front of the net and slid the puck home to even the game.

Cam Moore grabbed the second assist on the tying goal.

The veteran forward's goal sent the game to overtime as the teams were deadlocked 2-2 after 60 minutes.

Shots after regulation were 33-27 in favour of Ryerson.

Nipissing controlled the early part of overtime, earning a few great chances, but were unable to end things.

The teams traded chances, but the game went to a shootout to decide who earns the extra point.

After 67 minutes of hockey, the Rams led on the shot clock 37-30.

The Rams scored the lone goal in the shootout to claim the victory and extra point.

Talor Joseph was strong in net, making some big saves, turning aside a total of 35 shots and two more in the shootout while the Lakers fired 30 shots on the Rams net, along with three more in the shootout.

Nipissing has a weekend off before they host the York Lions next Tuesday here in North Bay.

Game time is set for 7pm at Memorial Gardens.