The Steinbach Pistons lost 4-3 in OT to the Winkler Flyers Friday evening at the TG Smith Centre.
The Winkler Flyers got on the board quick as Josh Beauchemin scored 1:27 into the game. A pass from Justin Svenson to Beauchemin right in front gave him a lot of time and he potted it low blocker side.
The Pistons answered back and tied the game 1-1 at the 7:16 mark. Braden Birnie gave a nice lob pass to a streaking Quinton Pepper who scored on the five hole on the breakaway. Zach Power got the secondary assist on the goal.
The Flyers restored their one goal lead making it 2-1 as Justin Svenson scored in the slot with a nice pass from behind the net by Troy Hamilton.
2 and half minutes later the Flyers extended their lead to 3-1 as Jayden McCarthy scored on the powerplay from the right faceoff dot on a one timer.
Going into the first intermission the Pistons were down 3-1 with the shot totals 11-7 for the Pistons.
The second period saw its fair share of penalties with seven penalties called between the two teams. Both teams’ penalty kills got to work and killed off all penalties.
At the end of the second period the score remained 3-1 with the shot totals 19-19.
The Pistons started their comeback at the 10:13 mark of the third period as Dawson Milliken scored from the high slot. Davis Fry and Ty Paisley got the assists on the goal.
Steinbach put the pressure on, generating lots of scoring chances but Flyers’ goaltender Dylan Meilun made some highlight reel saves keeping the Flyers one goal lead.
With a minute and half remaining the Pistons pulled their goalie to get an extra attacker. With 27 seconds left in the period and a flurry of bodies in front of the net Quinton Pepper batted the puck in and tied the game 3-3. The third period ended tied 3-3 and was heading to OT.
OT was underway and the Flyers started off with most of the possession. The Pistons caught a break and a 2 on 1 ensued. Quinton Pepper almost got a stick on the puck, but the puck went wide, and Pepper crashed into the net. The refs deliberated for a while and after much confusion the Pistons got a goaltender interference penalty with 2 minutes remaining in OT.
With 10 seconds remaining in OT Justin Svenson would grab a rebound and score the game winning goal to make it 4-3.