The Niverville Nighthawks beat the Steinbach Pistons by a score 5-4 Wednesday evening in Niverville.
Steinbach opened the scoring halfway through the first period. Neo Kiemeney put a shot on net with Kirk Mullen getting the rebound and putting it past Nighthawks goalie Chris Fines making it 1-0.
Niverville would bounce back quickly tying the game up 22 seconds later. Ty Kennet got a loose puck behind the Pistons net and centred it off a skate and squeaked it past Cole Plowman.
The Pistons restored the one goal lead two and a half minutes later. Nate Goodbrandson rung the puck off the post with Davin Griffin finding the loose puck out front, scoring in his first game back from injury and making it 2-1.
Niverville fought back and once again tied the game with 15-seconds remaining in the period. The Nighthawks had a two on one with Carson Reed burying the puck past Plowman to make it 2-2.
The Pistons once again restored the one goal lead a minute and a half into the second period. Warren Clark entered the offensive zone and dropped the puck for Nate Goodbrandson who placed it perfectly top corner, bar and in.
The Nighthawks and Pistons continued to go back and forth as Bryce Warkentine tied it up at 3. Carson Reed found Warkentine, giving him a partial breakaway, putting it blocker side.
Just over halfway through the second period the Nighthawks started to pull away a bit. Team leader in points Josh Paulhus put them up 4-3 with Braden Panzer extending the lead a minute and a half later, making it 5-3.
The Pistons would make it interesting as they made it 5-4 just under seven minutes into the third period. Neo Kiemeney took a shot from the point that Fines got a piece of, but it flipped over his head and Mullen found the puck to get his second of the game.
The Pistons would battle hard, trying to find that tying goal, but to no avail as the Nighthawks would seal the win with an empty netter in the dying seconds of the game.