Playing with only three defencemen for the majority part of the game due to penalty problems, the Selkirk Steelers found a way to get the two points as they came from behind to get a 3-2 shootout victory over the Steinbach Pistons Friday night.
The Pistons had plenty of opportunities with the man advantage having nine power plays on the night but could not cash in on their opportunities. Tristan Thompson and Ryan Ostermann scored in the shootout for Selkirk, with Ostermann winning it on the final shot of the third round.
William Desmarais was rock solid in the Steelers net with a 40 save performance, while Thomas Couture matched him save for save with 33 of them on the night.
Steinbach would get the scoring started 6:37 into the first period thanks to leading scorer Ty Naaykens, who surprised Desmarais by wrapping the puck around the net and tucking the disc in for a 1-0 lead. Dominic Murano and Codey Behun had the assists on Naaykens’ 3rd of the season.
Selkirk’s main problem through their opening two weeks of the season was staying out of the box, taking 26 total penalties against the Winnipeg Blues. They couldn’t keep out of the sin bin tonight, and it showed in the second period as they took a total of 23 PIMs in the frame. This included a five-minute major penalty to defenceman Tanner Hamilton. But what could go wrong, did go wrong for the Pistons power play as they were unable to generate anything with their golden opportunity.
The Steelers would tie the game up 4:52 into the third period on a shot by Jared Chapel that found a way through Couture’s five hole and slid just over the red line. Steinbach would get their one-goal lead with under ten to play on a beauty feed from Blake Burr that hit the tape of Murano, who beat Desmarais between the legs for the 2-1 Piston advantage. Christian Riemer picked up the bonus apple on Murano’s second goal on the campaign.
From that point on Steinbach was seemingly in control and were content to keep play down low in the Steelers end, but a costly icing with a minute left allowed Selkirk to pull Desmarais for the extra attacker. That extra attacker was Sheldin Howard, who would end up tying things up on a netmouth scramble in front of Couture with thirty-eight seconds left in regulation.
Steinbach would kill off a 4-on-3 Selkirk power play and the game was forced into a shootout. Thompson beat Couture five-hole in round 2, and then Matt Osadick scored to keep the Pistons alive in round 3. But Ostermann, who won a game for the Steelers last week in a shootout, did so again in similar fashion as he undressed Couture to send the road team home happy with the extra point.
POWER PLAY WOES
Steinbach have not scored a man advantage goal in their last 17 PP opportunities dating back to the Home Opener against the Winnipeg Freeze.
UP NEXT: The Pistons will look to regroup quickly from this minor setback as these two teams will rematch tomorrow night in Selkirk for a 7:30 pm puck drop. Catch the game live on your radio at MIX 96 and Steinbachonline.com, or on your computer screen by watching the game on HockeyTV.