Carter Loney definitely loves playing the Waywayseecappo Wolverines here at the TG Smith Centre, as he notched a natural hat-trick for the Pistons in a 4-2 Steinbach victory over Wayway Friday night.
Loney also put up two goals as an ‘AP’ versus the Wolverines last season on home ice, and notched three straight goals for the Pistons tonight. With the win, the Pistons have leapfrogged Waywayseecappo into 2nd place in the MJHL standings.
Matt Lenz was solid once again for Steinbach stopping 32 of 34 Wolverine shots, while Thomson Phinney was tagged with the loss as he made 34 saves in the loss.
Steinbach picked up right where they left off against the Blues on Tuesday night, as they poured 20 shots on goal in the first 20 minutes. Rylan Bettens would get the Pistons’ first goal halfway into the first period, as he potted home a rebound at the side of the net. Jackson Kobelka and Caydin Cleland would notch the assists on Bettens’ 4th of the season.
Loney would get his scoring started just under two minutes later, as Ty Naaykens found him at the side of the goal where the Minnesota-Duluth commit roofed a shot over Phinney to give the Pistons a 2-0 advantage. Kyle Bettens would nab the secondary assist on the play, extending his point streak to seven games in the process.
With five minutes left in the second period, Christian Riemer flipped an aerial pass that caromed off of defenceman Jack Kennedy and onto the tape of Loney, who went in on a breakaway to snap home his second of the game and give Steinbach a 3-0 lead. Declan Graham nabbed the Loney’s second of the night.
The rookie forward would complete his hat-trick on the power play with 26 seconds left as he rifled a wrister over the glove of Phinney on the right wing. Graham and Naaykens both had their second assists on Loney’s third, which now gives him 5 goals on the season.
The Wolverines would make the game very interesting with two goals in 47 seconds midway through the third period. One was a power play goal by defenceman Nick Doyle, and the other a clapper by team-leading scorer Jaymes Knee.
Waywayseecappo would continue to put the pressure on, but Lenz rebounded and shut the road side down the rest of the way to lead the Pistons to their third home win of the 2019-20 campaign.
SPECIAL TEAMS
Both teams connected once on the power play, the Pistons went 1 for 3 while Wayway went 1 for 4.
INJURY UPDATE: Forwards Tanner Mole (lower body injury) and Joey Dosan (upper body injury) are expected to miss about a month of action due to injury.
UP NEXT: The Pistons get the weekend off for the second week in a row as they will hit the ice again Wednesday night for a matchup with the Neepawa Natives here at the TG Smith Centre. Puck drops at 7:30 pm; you can purchase your tickets at Steinbachpistons.ca/tickets or one hour prior to puck drop at the gate.