The Steinbach Pistons beat the Winnipeg Blues by a score of 7-2 Saturday afternoon. This win marked their 13th in a row and clinched first place in the MJHL for the regular season.
The Steinbach Pistons opened the scoring at the 3:01 mark of the first period. Owen Weihs was in a puck a battle along the boards. As he freed it up, he gave a nice pass to Neo Kiemeney in front of the net who squeaked it by Blues goaltender Dawson Green.
The Blues tied it up just over 3-minutes into the second period as Jackson Kaiser got out of the box and got the loose puck finding Mathieu Moreira with a nice saucer pass who tipped it past Pistons’ goaltender Will Hambley.
The Pistons would regain the one goal lead making it 2-1 just under 6-minutes later. Zach Power got the puck in the corner behind the net and tried to make a net drive. With great patience Power looped back around the right faceoff dot and found Braden Birnie with a cross crease pass who settled the puck and got it past Dawson Green.
The Pistons extended their lead to 3-1 with just over 5-minutes remaining in the second period. Power, Birnie and Pepper entered on a 3 on 2 with Power leading the rush. Zach Power gave a drop pass to Braden Birnie who made a beautiful between the legs move to get by his man and backhand a great pass to Quinton Pepper on the doorstep who potted the easy goal.
The Pistons would make it 4-1 and score their first powerplay goal of the game with just under two minutes to go in the second period. Langley Kruggel took a shot from the point that went wide setting up Quinton Pepper with a grade A scoring chance who could not get it over Dawson Green’s pad. Paisley snuck in, finding the loose puck as Green was out of position and put it in the net.
The Pistons went into the second intermission up 4-1 with the shot totals 21-18.
Steinbach would extend their lead to 5-1 as Zach Power made a nice pass to Langley Kruggel who was coming down the side wall and put it top corner over Dawson Green’s shoulder right under the bar.
The Pistons would score their second powerplay goal of the game on what was a double minor high sticking penalty. Davis Fry came into the offensive zone with speed, making some nice moves and passed it off to Cooper Rice who scored on the cross-crease pass to make it 6-1. After the goal there seemed to be some confusion as it seemed that the Pistons scored right at the 2-minute mark of the double-minor penalty, but the Blues player was let out. Steinbach tried to contest but to no avail and went 2/5 on the PP.
The Blues would get their second goal of the game midway through the third period making it 6-2. The Blues won the offensive zone draw to the point, where Duncan Jowett put a shot just wide, but Jake Dale jumped on the rebound and put it in the net.
The Pistons would score the final goal of the game at the 17:22 mark of the third period making it 7-2. Langley Kruggel took a shot from the point that was blocked and went behind the net. Braden Birnie picked up the loose puck and tried to make a back door pass, but the puck hit a skate and slid in the net.
The Pistons went on to beat the Blues 7-2 and make it their 13th win in a row.