After sweeping their northern Manitoba road trip, the Steinbach Pistons returned to Southeast Event Centre on Wednesday night looking to kick off their two-game homestand with two points against the visiting Selkirk Steelers.
Captain Sam Noad opened the scoring at 4:52 in jaw-dropping fashion. Defenceman Luke Bogart fed Noad at the right side of the Steelers’ net, and he slipped it through his legs just above the goal line, beating Hudson Hunnie’s glove for his 20th of the year. An unreal move by the 20-year-old to get Steinbach on the board.
Evan Mayer responded for Selkirk at 13:00 to tie the game 1-1 with his 10th, but Cole Cairns restored Steinbach’s lead in the final minute of the period.
Bogart spotted Cairns wide open at the top of the crease and feathered a cross-ice pass to No. 9, who one-timed it past Hunnie with just 29 seconds left in the frame for his eighth of the season.
Steinbach carried the one-goal lead into the intermission while outshooting Selkirk 15-10.
The Steelers ran into penalty trouble in the middle frame, and Steinbach capitalized.
Connor Paronuzzi extended the lead at 1:51, finishing a cross-crease pass from Jack Greenwell to make it 3-1 with his eighth. Less than two minutes later, Brett Kaiser buried a rebound at 3:21 for his 12th to push it to 4-1. Bogart, capping off a strong night, added Steinbach’s third power-play goal of the period at 11:39, jumping on a loose puck in the slot just three seconds into the man advantage to make it 5-1.
The Pistons led by four after 40 minutes and held a 33-19 edge in shots.
Carter Haney cut the deficit to three at 5:32 of the third, but Steinbach answered again on the power play at 9:23, as Evan Gradt netted his 23rd to make it 6-2.
Steinbach improved to 42-8-2 with the win, their 11th straight, while goaltender Easton Thvedt turned aside 26 shots.
Six games remain on the regular season schedule for Steinbach. They’ll wrap up their two-game homestand Saturday, Feb. 28 against the Neepawa Titans. Puck drop is set for 7:00 p.m. CT, and the game can be streamed on FloHockey.
Article written by Evan Waldner – Picture courtesy of Patrick Friesen
