The Blues struck twice in 51 seconds within the first 5 minutes, and that was all the scoring they needed to hand the Steinbach Pistons their first loss of the preseason with a 2-1 victory Tuesday night at the Bell MTS Iceplex.
Continuing his hot stretch from the playoffs a year ago, Blues goalie Jeremy Link stopped 28 of 29 shots he faced in his two periods of action. Matt Radomsky saw his first action of the preseason and made six saves in half a game’s work, and backup Danton Belluk turned in his best outing during this exhibition schedule by stopping all 8 shots he faced.
The Blues struck on two odd man rushes, the first coming off of the stick of Brayden Foreman at the 3:31 mark of period 1 from Luke Seremet and Michael Ladyman. The second came from Codey Behun, with Braeden Binda and Seremet picking up the helpers to give Winnipeg a quick 2-0 lead.
Most players in the line up for Steinbach were seeing their first action of the preseason, including Brady Tatro, Brendan Martin, Tristan Culleton, Troy Williams, and Will Koop. They knocked the rust off in the 2nd by peppering the Winnipeg goal, outshooting the Blues 16-2 in the frame. Troy Beauchemin notched the Pistons’ first goal with 3:35 left in period 2 to draw them within one. Cayden Cleland and Mat Wilbee had the assists on Beauchemin’s MJHL leading 4th goal of the preseason.
That was as close as the Pistons would come, as an eventless third period resulted in the Blues skating away with their 2nd win of their exhibition schedule.
SPECIAL TEAMS
The Pistons went 0 for 5 on the power play, and killed off the only penalty they faced.
UP NEXT: The Pistons conclude their 2018 preseason schedule with a home and home set against the Selkirk Steelers this Friday and Saturday. Come on down for the final preseason game on Friday at 7:30 pm. Tickets are $12 at the door, and we also invite you to stick around afterwards to be a part of our brand new 2018-19 intro video.