The Steinbach Pistons returned to the Southeast Event Centre Tuesday evening after taking care of business in Portage on Sunday, tying the quarterfinal series 1-1 with a 4-2 victory at Stride Place. The win made it a best-of-five, and Steinbach knew they couldn’tlet a win slip away at home again before heading back to The Dog Pound.
Steinbach’s starts to games so far in this series haven’t been pretty, and Tuesday proved that again. Portage scored less than a minute into Game Two on Sunday, and they yet again scored the first goal for the third straight game Tuesday, 6:48 into Game Three, when Ben Bugeaud redirected a shot past Chris Quizi for his first of the postseason to give the visitors a 1-0 lead.
Pistons forward Jackson Kostiuk has transitioned his game nicely into the postseason, arguably even elevating it, as he would go on to tie the game for the Pistons with his fourth of the playoffs at 16:25 of the first. Portage turned over the puck to Kostiuk and he ripped a shot from the middle of the ice past Donavan Bodnar.
With less than a minute to go while shorthanded, captain Sam Noad and Evan Kabel broke out on a 2-on-1, and Noad roofed it under the bar past Bodnar for his first of the series to give his club a one-goal lead with 28 seconds left.
Connor Paronuzzi helped add to his team’s lead early in the second. Liam Doyle jumped up into the rush with Paronuzzi and sent him on a breakaway, where he beat Bodnar low blocker side at 1:13 for his first of the playoffs, making it 3-1.
Breck Hirschhoff got Portage right back within a goal at 14:22, but Grady Hoffman answered right back to restore his club’s two-goal advantage 1:05 later. Doyle found Hoffman alone in the slot and he quickly fired his first of the series past the Portage netminder.
Doyle added his fourth point of the contest with just nine seconds to go in the middle frame. The 20-year-old rifled his second in as many games past Bodnar at the top of the right circle on the power play to make it 5-2.
In the third period, Portage had a couple of opportunities on the man advantage to make it a closer game, but Steinbach’s penalty kill was rock solid and Kostiuk added his second of the contest into an empty net at 17:38 to help secure Steinbach’s first playoff win on home ice.
Pistons goaltender Chris Quizi was reliable once again in the cage, making 27 stops.
Steinbach now shifts a bit of pressure onto Portage as they head back to Stride Place with a 2-1 series lead, where they’ll look to put the Terriers on the brink of elimination with a win on Friday. Puck drop is set for 7:30 p.m. CT, and you can watch on FloHockey.
Article written by Evan Waldner – Picture provided by Ice Wave Media
