After digging themselves into a hole in the second period, the Steinbach Pistons scored three unanswered goals including Travis Hensrud's overtime winner to come away with a 5-4 win on Friday night over the Winnipeg Blues.
The opening minutes of the first period didn't produce much in the way of chances for either team but eventually, it was Steinbach that managed to get on the board.
Neo Kiemeney won a puck battle below the Blue's goal line and freed the puck up to newcomer Kirk Mullen, who was making his Pistons debut after being acquired earlier in the week. Mullen flipped the puck out front to Landon Roberts, who had his original shot blocked but the rebound went right to Langley Kruggel who buried it into the open net for his 4th goal of the year to make it 1-0.
Winnipeg answered back quickly, forcing a turnover behind the Pistons' net, firing a pass out front, and scoring to tie the game 1-1.
Less than two minutes into the second period, the Blues struck again as shot from the top of the circle slipped through goaltender Cole Plowman and in to give Winnipeg their first lead, 2-1.
The 20-year-old power forward Landon Roberts evened things up as he cashed in on a power play for his second goal of the year. Leo Chambers and Kruggel were given the assists.
On another power play, it was the short-handed Blues that managed to hit the scoreboard as again, a hard forecheck forced a turnover and they managed to punch one in off a Piston to grab a 3-2 lead.
That lead would double later in the frame as the Blues executed a beautiful two-on-one rush to make it 4-2.
A dust-up late in the period would give Steinbach another man advantage and once again, it was Roberts capitalizing as he planted himself in front, fought for space, and hammered home a loose puck to bring Steinbach back to within a goal. Mullen picked up his second assist on the night as did Ian Amsbaugh who started the whole play off with some great puck control and puck retrieval along the boards in the offensive zone.
In the third, the penalty kill unit was called upon to keep the Pistons in the game and that's exactly what they did with two massive, timely kills to keep it a one-goal contest.
Plowman fought the puck at times in the middle period but the 19-year-old goalie stood tall in the third making several key saves, giving his team a chance to find the equalizer.
With a little more than five minutes remaining in the game, Ty Paisley one-handed a puck along the blue line to defender Warren Clark who walked in, made a sweet move around a Blues defender, and then scored to tie the game 4-4. Clark's third of the year was assisted by Paisley and Travis Hensrud.
Chambers came close to giving Steinbach the lead just seconds later but was turned away by the Blues netminder who made several massive saves throughout the night.
Regulation ended and the game went into 3-on-3 overtime.
Both teams were cautious at times, waiting for the right time to strike but as the extra frame wore on, the Pistons started to take control.
As momentum built, it was Hensrud that managed to skate all the way around the offensive zone, dash out from behind the net into the slot, and fire home the overtime winner. The 20-year-old collected his second overtime winner of the year and his 11th goal of the campaign with Clark and Paisley picking up the assists.
Plowman remains perfect on the year coming up big when he needed to, improving to 8-0 after making 30 saves.
Steinbach's power play beat up on the number one ranked penalty kill of Winnipeg, finishing 2 for 4, while their own penalty kill was a perfect 4 for 4.
At the TG Smith Centre so far this year, Steinbach's record is 10-0. The 10 home games so far are tied for second most in the MJHL.
Throughout November, the Pistons have just 3 home games.
A three-game road swing kicks off on Wednesday night in Winkler as the Pistons battle the Flyers at 7:00 pm. The game will be streamed on DABroadcasting.Mixlr.com with the pre-game show starting at 6:45 pm.
Sun, May 5, 1:00 PM
Entry-Level, Seasonal
Featured
