Matthew Greening, Byron Fobair, and Tony Apetagon all scored on the power play, as the OCN Blizzard used those man advantage markers to defeat the Steinbach Pistons 5-2 Saturday night. The OCN win snapped the Pistons’ mini 4 game win streak.
Playing on back-to-back nights, Blizzard goalie Dorian Laganiere put in a solid performance making 31 saves in the win. Matt Radomsky got his first start in the Piston net since November 19th, and he stopped 28 shots in the loss.
Jesse Roach gave the Blizzard the lead just 1:38 into the first period, as he buried his 4th of the season with the assist going to Austin Shumanski. Greening notched his 7th of the season for the first of three consecutive OCN power play goals to give the Blizzard a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes of play.
After the Pistons took a too many men penalty, Fobair capitalized for the Blizzard with his 7th goal of the campaign to push the OCN lead up to 3. Shortly after, Easton Bennett lost his cool and went after a Blizzard player with a high hit on the boards, and proceeded to go after him in behind the play after the puck went out of the zone. Bennett received two for roughing, five for cross-checking, and received a game misconduct on the play. On the 5 minute power play, Apetagon scored his 10th of the year to give the Blizzard their only power play marker on the major penalty.
Newly acquired defenceman Mark Wilson was playing in his first game for Steinbach, and got his second of the season and first as a Piston. His wrist shot hit an OCN player in front of the net, and trickled past Laganiere to get Steinbach on the board 5:42 into the third period. Braden Purtill tallied his 16th of the season with under 12 minutes to play with a weak wrist shot that found its way past everyone to make it 4-2. But that’s as close as the Pistons would get, as Apetagon sealed it with an empty netter with 22 seconds to go.
SPECIAL TEAMS
The Pistons went 0 for 6 on the power play on the night.
UP NEXT: The Pistons conclude their three games in three nights trip, as they travel to Swan River to take on the Stampeders tomorrow. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:00 pm.