It wasn’t pretty but the Steinbach Pistons climbed back from an early 2-0 deficit, and Codey Behun’s wrist shot from just inside the blue line beat the OCN goaltender to hand the road team a 3-2 overtime win over the OCN Blizzard Saturday night.
The Pistons were concluding a 3-in-3 trip and once again dressed 11 forwards and 7 defencemen. Matt Lenz picked up the win with 28 saves on the night, as he kept the Pistons in it all game long. OCN netminder Zack Cloutier stopped 31 of 34 Steinbach shots in the loss.
It didn’t start off well for the road Pistons, who started the game off sluggish by taking four penalties in the first 10 minutes of the game. OCN took advantage and notched a couple of goals on those power plays as Dustin Mozdzen beat Lenz 1:43 into the game.
The Blizzard would double their lead on a rocket one-timer by Adam Drolet from the left point at the 6:19 mark of the first period.
Steinbach would start to possess the puck more and gradually built momentum throughout the course of the game. They would get their first power play of the game halfway through the second period and took advantage. Max Neill notched his second PP goal in as many games as he jammed a rebound past Cloutier to cut the OCN lead in half at 12:44. Zach Purcell and Curtis Ireland picked up the assists on Neill’s 7th of the season.
The third period was shaping up just like the game on Friday night in Virden, where the Pistons kept control of the play but couldn’t get any quality scoring chances. After a missed power play opportunity with 8 minutes to go, Purcell was tripped up by an OCN forward with three minutes left.
That gave Steinbach a chance to tie it late, and they would cash in. Bryce Young’s shot from the left wing hit Cloutier and the puck laid in the goal mouth. Ty Naaykens banged it home in front with 2:28 to go to tie the game up. Declan Graham notched the second assist on Naaykens’ 8th of the season, and Bryce Young would notch the primary helper giving him a point during his homecoming trip in OCN.
The Pistons would send it into overtime and controlled the puck for all of the extra session. As Young and Graham headed off for a change, linemate Codey Behun stepped up with the puck and went 1 on 3. He fired a laser wrister past the left ear of Cloutier and into the back of the net; giving him his team-leading 12th goal of the season, and his team the extra point in a 3-2 victory.
SPECIAL TEAMS
The Pistons went 2 for 4 on the power play while the Blizzard went 2 for 5.
UP NEXT: The Pistons will host the Waywayseecappo Wolverines for their annual Cancer Care Night presented by Clearview Co-op on November 29th, where the team will wear special edition Movember jerseys that will be auctioned off after the game. You won’t want to miss this one; get your tickets online at Steinbachpistons.ca/tickets to reserve your spot for one of the best games on the 2019-20 calendar.