The Steinbach Pistons went through the motions on Wednesday night and eventually fell to the Neepawa Natives 2-1 in overtime to wrap up their five game home stand with a 4-0-1 record. 

It wasn't the most energetic start to a game as both teams slowly got their legs into the contest but things did pick up as the period went on.

Steinbach managed to put a couple decent chances on net on their way to out-shooting Neepawa 14-6 but the game remained scoreless.

Zach Purcell continued to be the most lethal scorer in the MJHL as the 19-year-old stripped a Natives forward, then fired off a wrister for a 1-0 Pistons lead. For Purcell, it's his 13th goal in his last 8 games, giving him 25 on the year.

Neepawa continued to just hang around and hang around.

Steinbach was stuck outside for the most part and never really got towards the Neepawa net. Because of that, there were few second chances.

The Natives defence gave them a chance to tie the game. With over five minutes to go, a bouncing puck ended up in the slot of Steinbach and Neepawa quickly knotted up the match 1-1.

Again in the third, Steinbach put shots from distance on goal but couldn't really get through the Neepawa defence.

For a third consecutive period, the Pistons held a pretty decent shot lead but as regulation was coming to an end, Matt Lenz had to make a couple of big saves to even give his team a chance to get to overtime.

Short handed in the extra frame, Neepawa stunned the fans at the TG Smith Centre as a shot from the top of the circle managed to make it's way through and into the back of the net for the Natives 10th win of the year, snapping the Pistons winning streak at 5.

Shots were 45-25 for the Pistons. Their power play finished 0-2 while the penalty kill was one second away from being perfect but the overtime goal was scored while on the man-advantage so it finished 2-3.

Steinbach will travel to Dauphin for a pair of games Friday and Saturday. Both games will be on Mix 96 and SteinbachOnline.com.

Coaches Notes

Head Coach Paul Dyck was not overly impressed by his teams effort or the result on a sleepy Wednesday game. "They were flat from the beginning. Came in here expecting to have two points just handed us and that's exactly what you get. Didn't get any breaks, didn't get any calls and we didn't deserve any."

The speed and aggressiveness that helped push the Pistons to those 5 straight wins coming in seemed to be lacking tonight and the coach agreed. "We just refused to get to the middle of the ice, establish position net-front, win battles and compete. That's what it really came down to, didn't want to play in the hard areas of the ice. 45 shots is a deceiving number. I don't think I'd consider a lot of them grade A quality and we didn't have a lot of secondary looks. We didn't want to get in there, we had no desire to get to the middle of the ice."

Matt Lenz did what he could and was able to earn at least a point but was visibly fired up through most of the game and after the overtime loss, that's something that Dyck believes will help the team going forward. "No question, he was battling, one of the few guys who came to play, was prepared to play. I'd be frustrated too if I was him."

Dyck believes the message of what needs to be done Friday and Saturday vs the Kings was sent without having to say any words. "Shouldn't take much, they should be embarrassed by their effort tonight and I'd expect a better effort come Friday."