Courtesy of Steinbachonline.com
Tyler Penner made a triumphant return to the lineup on Friday night as he had a pair of goals and helped the Steinbach Pistons grab a 7-3 victory over the Swan Valley Stampeders in game 1 of their best of 7 series.
The Pistons wanted to come out to a fast start and did just that by putting home two power play goals before the midway point of the opening period. Mack Graham scored first from Cole Smith and Dan Taillefer while Bradley Schoonbaert found the back of the net just four minutes later. Swan Valley pushed back though and would score two goals in 1:07 to tie the game, with both coming on their own power plays. Quintin Lisoway would restore the one goal lead moments later with assists going to Hayden Goderis and Connor Martin.
In the second, another man advantage for Swan would see them score and knot the game at three a piece. Then a scary moment as Connor Navrot of the Swan Valley Stampeders was hit in the corner and remained down for several minutes. Paramedics were called but before being carted off the ice on a stretcher, he was able to stand briefly and sit upright on the stretcher. The crowd gave him a standing ovation as he waved from the gurney. With a 5:00-minute man advantage, Swan had a couple of chances to take the lead but it was Cole Smith putting Steinbach in front with a beautiful inside-out move and roofing a wrister, making it 4-3. Before the period was through, Tyler Penner would score his first of two with assists going to Graham and Darby Gula.
In the third, Lisoway tapped home a Jordan Bochinski rebound and Tyler Penner score unassisted to give Steinbach a 7-3 win. The power play went a strong 3-4 and the penalty kill got better as the game went on finishing 4-7.
Roman Bengert was solid in net picking up the win making 25 saves on the night.
These two teams will be right back at it on Saturday night, 8:00 pm puck drop on AM 1250 and SteinbachOnline.com before the series switches back to Swan Valley for games 3 and 4 on Wednesday and Thursday.