Brendan Martin scored three goals and added two assists as the Steinbach Pistons thumped the Winkler Flyers 10-1 Wednesday night.
Riese Gaber notched two goals and an assist, and Matt Radomsky made 27 saves for his 15th win of the season. Troy Martyniuk and Aaron Brunn combined to stop 30 of 40 Pistons shots.
Martin got the party started when he slid the puck underneath the arm of the outsprawled Martyniuk. The assists went to Tristan Culleton and Tyson McConnell at the 11:32 mark of the first period. And then Gaber split two Flyers defencemen and slipped the puck past Martyniuk for the eventual game-winning goal.
The Pistons have struggled to score against the Flyers this season, but they finally blew the doors wide open by scoring six in the second period. Easton Bennett got his first on the night from Tanner Mole and Martin at the 2:26 mark. Bradley Schoonbaert deked out Martyniuk in tight to make it 4-0 Pistons at the 4:02 mark, with Austin Heidemann and Darby Gula picking up the helpers. Winkler got their only marker in the period, as CJ Corrazin took a centering pass from Nolan McGuire and tapped it in to make it 4-1 at 5:36.
After that, it was all Pistons as Gaber tapped one in at the side of the net for his 2nd of the game from Mark Taraschuk at 10:35. Martin scored his 2nd on a penalty shot, and then shortly completed the hat-trick just 55 seconds when he took a pass from Gaber. It was Martin’s first career hat-trick in his junior A career, and he now has 11 goals on the season. Daniel McKitrick completed the barrage, when his slap-shot on the power-play zoomed past Martyniuk and chased him from the goal at the end of the second. Martin and Will Koop picked up assists at 18:24 of the second period, and it was 8-1 after 40 minutes.
Bennett got his 2nd of the game from Brady Tatro and Taraschuk at 2:31 in the third, and Darby Gula added the Pistons’ 10th goal on a two-man advantage at 12:57 the third from McConnell and Drew Worrad.
SPECIAL TEAMS
Steinbach went 2 for 6 on the power-play, and killed off all 3 penalties they faced.
UP NEXT: The Pistons will face the Selkirk Steelers in a home-and-home series on Friday and Saturday. Puck drop on Friday is at 7:30 pm in Selkirk.