The Steinbach Pistons beat the Winkler Flyers by a score of 3-2 in Game 2 of the first round to tie up the series 1-1 heading back to Steinbach on Tuesday.
The Pistons opened the scoring just over 3-minutes into the first period. Kirk Mullen and Ty Paisley had a great forecheck with Dawson Milliken getting the puck behind the net and wrapping it around to make it 1-0.
Winkler would tie the game up 1-1 midway through the first period. Mike Svenson shot the puck on net from the right faceoff dot with the rebound going right to Nicholas McKee on the doorstep who put it past Wasik.
Winkler would get a breakaway with Steinbach being assessed a penalty for hooking and the Flyers being awarded a penalty shot. Wasik stood tall, shutting down Zach Nicolas on the shootout, keeping the game tied 1-1.
Steinbach would restore the one goal lead in the dying seconds of the first period. Landon Roberts freed the puck up with a big hit along the boards which sprung the Pistons on a two on one with Paisley and Hensrud with Paisley getting the puck to Hensrud who made no mistake getting it past Klassen with a beautiful shot.
Steinbach would go into the first intermission with a 2-1 lead over the Flyers.
Steinbach would go to the penalty kill twice in the second period, with the second penalty being another hit to the head penalty being assessed to Hunter Degelman. Steinbach would lock it down and kill of both penalties, keeping the 2-1 lead.
At the 13:42 mark of the second period Steinbach would extend their lead to 3-1. Dawson Milliken won the draw cleanly back to Ethan Johnson at the point who put a seeing eye shot on net and past Klassen.
Steinbach would go into the second intermission up 3-1 over the Winkler Flyers.
Dominik Wasik would make some key saves in the third period as the Flyers would get some prime scoring chances and breakaways.
Late in the third period Landon Roberts would absolutely lay out a Flyers player but the Refs would signal for a penalty. On the delayed penalty McKee would lay out Travis Hensrud, negating the Flyers would’ve been powerplay.
With just over three minutes remaining in the third period Winkler would pull their goalie and get an extra attacker. With 2:40 remaining in the game Winkler would slip one past Wasik to make it 3-2.
Steinbach would lock down the defensive end for the final two minutes of the game and secure the 3-2 win over the Flyers and tying the series 1-1.