Content Provided By: Steinbach Online
While it was three players that did the scoring and goaltender Christian Green was sensational, it was for the most part a gritty, total team effort that gave the Steinbach Pistons a 5-1 win over the Waywayseecappo Wolverines on Thursday night.
Coming off a 4-1 win, the Pistons kept a lot of what made them successful in that game and brought it right out of the gate against the Wolverines.
Several hard working shifts from all four lines kept Wayway from breaking out of their zone cleanly, leading to turnovers which Steinbach used to generate several glorious chances but couldn’t find the back of the net.
They would manage to get on the board first after winning a faceoff in the offensive zone.
Sam Zagari won the draw cleanly back to Spencer Penner, who calmly waited for traffic to form in front of the Wolverines netminder before sifting a shot through. While his chance was stopped, Zagari was there to bang and crash, eventually cashing in on the rebound for his first as a member of the Pistons and 7th goal of the year.
It was a big goal for the 20-year-old who’s come close a few times but was finally able to celebrate. The smile under the mustache told the story about how big that goal was for him.
The Wolverines looked to answer a few minutes later on a power play. They managed to get a puck past Green but it clanked off the post and came right back under the goalie, who covered it up for the whistle.
Later in the period, Zagari would get his second of the night thanks to some great work by the whole forward line down low who worked the Wolverines over, allowing Connor Paronuzzi to find Zhenya Miles with a great cross ice pass. Miles was allowed to walk right in and fed a perfect backdoor pass to Zagari who needed a couple of whacks at it but did pot his second of the night, giving Steinbach a 2-0 lead.
Less than two minutes into the third, Brett Kaiser stripped a Wolverine defender of the puck and hit Miles with a pass and the 18-year-old leaned into a shot that squeaked through the goalie and just crossed the line for his first ever MJHL goal.
The 3-0 lead would be held in tact thanks to the work of the defense but mainly Green who made several big time saves in the later parts of the second period, including a pair of instances where he felt the puck get past him but managed to reach back and pull it away from the goal line.
In the final period, Luca Pura, playing in his second ever MJHL game, took a sweet pass from Kaiser and hammered home his first ever MJHL goal. The bench erupted and they made sure they kept the puck for the young man.
Things would get a little chippy as Mathis Laplante got into things with a forward from the Wolverines. Both were tossed in the box given each 2-minute minors and 10-minute misconducts for their shenanigans.
A 5 on 3 power play gave the Wolverines a real chance to get back into the game but some very solid work by the defenders and more incredible work by Green kept them from scoring.
Waywayseecappo did finally manage to score off a faceoff play, very similar to the one Steinbach used to open the scoring in the first making it a 4-1 game.
Pura’s special night was capped off by scoring his second goal as once again, a terrific pass from Kaiser hit a streaking Pura who wasted no time burying his second to make it 5-1 Steinbach.
Green and the Pistons held the fort the rest of the way and thanks to Green’s 32 save night, the Pistons picked up their second straight win.
Steinbach’s power play was 0-4 while the penalty kill was a perfect 7-7.
One more game for Steinbach is on tap for Friday night as they host the Swan Valley Stampeders.