The Steinbach Pistons went into Tuesdays nights game against Swan Valley wanting to take any hope away from the Stampeders and they did just that putting forward a 6-0 win in game three to grab a 3-0 series strangle-hold.

Braden Purtill got the Pistons on the board midway through the first period after Mark Taraschuk's point shot was mishandled by the Swan goalie to give Steinbach a 1-0 lead. For the captian, it's his second goal of the playoffs.

The Pistons pushed the pace and it showed in the time on attack and in the shots department, finshing the opening period with a 19-7 advantage while taking that 1-0.

In the second, the Stampeders came out with a little more life to start the second period but their chances were few and far between. Just when it seemed like the Stamps were about to make a charge, Brady Tatro (1) cashed in after a hard working shift to make it 2-0. Tatro's linemates Tanner Mole and Easton Bennett had the assists on the goal.

Only forty six seconds later, Bradley Schoonbaert cashed in with his first of the playoffs off a nice pass from Drew Worrad to make it 3-0 Steinbach. Taraschuk added his second assist on the night on the Schoonbaert marker.

The scoring continued in the period as Taraschuk found the back of the net with a seeing eye shot from the point for his first of the post-season from Will Koop and Curtis Ireland. 

With three goals in the period, the Pistons led after 40 minutes of play, 4-0. 

More goals were in order as a couple of bullet shots from a pair of highscoring Pistons.

First, Daneil McKitrick snapped home a beautiful wrist shot, short side on a fast paced rush for his first of the post-season, giving the Pistons a 5-0 lead. Koop had his second assist of the night on the goal and Mark Wilson had his first point.

The final goal of the night was scored by Austin Heidemann as he converted on a perfect 2 on 1 with an absolute rocket wrist shot to make it 6-0. Worrad had the only helper on the goal.

Matthew Thiessen recorded 30 saves on the night for his second shutout of the series and second shutout of his MJHL playoff career.

The power play failed to click in their only oppertunity of the night finishing 0-1 while the penalty kill was a perfect 4-4.

Coaches Notes

Head coach Paul Dyck was very pleased when talking about the overall effort tonight he saw from his team. "I liked our game right away. Our compete level was up there and I thought we played very well off the defence. We capitalized on our chances and didn't give up anything major. It was a pretty complete game."

A phrase that is used by the Pistons is "kill their will", that's something Dyck has really noticed to be something the players have bought in to. "It's something that our guys talk about on the bench, when we get a goal, we want to keep pushing and we did that tonight. They had a push in the second and then Tatro and Schoonbaert score quick and that kind of deflates a team. That's when we want to keep attacking."

Up Next

Game 4 will be played in Swan Valley on Wednesday night as the Pistons go for the opening round series sweep. Pre-game show is on 7:05 pm while puck drop is set for 7:30 pm on Mix 96 and SteinbachOnline.com.

3 Stars 

3rd - Matthew Thiessen - Steinbach

2nd - Braden Purtill - Steinbach

1st - Mark Taraschuk - Steinbach