Matt Lenz stopped all 20 shots he faced while Rylan Bettens had two goals on the night as the Steinbach Pistons defeated the Winnipeg Blues 5-0 Wednesday night at the Rink Training Centre.
With their Game #4 win the Pistons completed the series sweep and will likely have a week off to get ready for their next opponent. Blues goalie Cooper Hatfield was solid once again for Winnipeg with 34 saves on the night.
Coming off of an emotionally draining triple overtime game on Tuesday night, it was a matter of which team would be the freshest as both sides quickly reset for tonight’s game. It was evident right from the opening puck drop that the Pistons were the fresher team on the ice.
David Queree would get the scoring started for Steinbach as he fired a wrister from the slot off of a Max Neill feed to give the Pistons an early 1-0 lead. Christian Riemer picked up the extra assist on Queree’s first of the playoffs.
Steinbach outshot the Blues 19-4 in the opening 20 minutes and would keep pouring it on in the second. Rylan Bettens would jam in a loose puck past Hatfield at the side of the goal for a 2-0 Pistons advantage 1:21 into the frame, with Caydin Cleland picking up the apple on the play.
Rylan would get another one as he beat Hatfield on the rush to give Steinbach a 3-0 lead at the five minute mark of period 2. Codey Behun and Tucker Hodgson had the helpers on Bettens’ second of the night and team-leading 3rd of the postseason.
Not to be outdone, brother Kyle got in on the scoring action. Having a plethora of chances in the series and unable to find the back of the net, he finally got one past Hatfield on the power play with a one-time blast to make it 4-0 Steinbach. Declan Graham and Ty Naaykens notched the assists on Bettens’ first of the playoffs.
Steinbach played solid defense all night long as Lenz didn’t need to be spectacular, but he was steady as a rock for the entire 60 minutes. Riemer would cap things off for the Pistons with a goal similar to last night’s OT winner, as he beat Hatfield from the left point to conclude the scoring at 5-0 with 1:31 left in regulation. Tanner Mole had the assist on Riemer’s 2nd of the playoffs and team-leading 6th point during the postseason.
SPECIAL TEAMS
The Pistons went 1 for 2 on the power play to finish 3 for 10 in the series, while they killed off all five Blues man advantages and finished a perfect 23 for 23 on the PK.
UP NEXT: The Pistons will await the lowest seed remaining in round 2, with the semi-final series beginning at the TG Smith Centre next week. Stay tuned to Steinbachpistons.ca and all Pistons social media outlets for upcoming ticket info and the series schedule.