Denton Mateychuk scored his first career MJHL goal, and Rylan Bettens added two goals and an assist as the Steinbach Pistons carried their momentum from last night into tonight with a 5-2 victory over the Selkirk Steelers.
The game was a re-scheduled game from Sunday night in Selkirk that was moved to the TG Smith for Saturday due to the impending COVID-19 restrictions in Selkirk and the Winnipeg metro area.
Matt Osadick, Quinton Pepper, and Ty Naaykens each had two assists, while Codey Behun and Michael King scored the other goals for the Pistons. Simon Harkness was rock solid in goal with a 32 save performance for the boys in white and blue, while Cole Plowman for the Steelers stopped 40 of 45 shots as he’s tagged with the loss.
The Steelers came out of the gate quick and blitzed the Pistons right from the opening faceoff, but Harkness stood tall early to keep the game scoreless until with three minutes left in the first. That’s where Pepper found Mateychuk on a 2-on-1 rush, and the rookie d-man from Dominion City beat Plowman with a backhander to put Steinbach on the board and give him his first goal ever in the MJHL.
Like yesterday, Steinbach poured it on in the second period and got the scoring started just 11 seconds into the middle frame. The red hot Michael King took nice passes from Naaykens and Behun in front and his shot bounced off of a Steeler defender and past Plowman for a 2-0 Piston advantage. Behun pushed his point streak up to seven games to begin the 2020-21 season, while King now has four goals in his first two Piston games.
The Pistons also kept their momentum on the power play by going a perfect 2 for 2 in the second. Behun would chip a backhander from the slot through a screen for his 3rd of the season at the 4:10 mark, with Bettens and Osadick notching the helpers. And then Bettens would deflect a Naaykens shot over the shoulder of Plowman for a 4-0 Steinbach lead, with Sam Court notching the secondary assist on the play.
Selkirk would get their first goal of the night with just six seconds left to send them into the dressing room with a bit of energy as Ryan Ostermann buried a rebound past Harkness to cut the lead to 4-1. But the home team would quickly qwell that momentum in the third as Bettens took a nice pass from Pepper in front to pot the puck into an open cage for his second of the night, and 4th goal of the season. Linemate Osadick got the extra assist and it was 5-1 Steinbach.\
Connor Roulette would get his first goal of the season for Selkirk with just 1:45 remaining in regulation, but nothing could ruin the mood of the Pistons as they congratulated Harkness on a solid performance as they skated away with their 5th win of the season.
UP NEXT: The Pistons will head outside of the Southeast Division for the first time in 2020-21 next weekend as they tangle with their Mennonite rivals in the Winkler Flyers, starting with a Friday night matchup in Winkler. Catch the game live on HockeyTV or listen on your radio dial at MIX 96 and Steinbachonline.com.