Steinbach Pistons pour on the goals as they smother the Selkirk Steelers 8-3 in Friday night’s preseason clash in Selkirk.
The Pistons struck first on the powerplay 6 minutes into the game as forward Nate Goodbrandson got it past Steelers goaltender Andrew Ness. The Pistons got into a bit of penalty trouble early but with their red-hot penalty kill, killed off the double minor high sticking penalty committed by Jack Rogers and kept the 1 goal lead. Steinbach extended their lead by 1 just over halfway through the first as recently acquired forward Dawson Milliken scored while Langley Kruggel got his second apple of the game. The Steelers made sure to not go into the period break scoreless as Steelers player Nate Hinds got it past Pistons goaltender Will Hambley with just under 2 minutes left to cut the lead in half making 2-1.
The evenly matched, one goal game continued for the first half of the second period until Pistons player Davis Fry scored two quick goals less than a minute apart to open up the lead making it 4-1. The Steelers brought the game back to within 1 as they scored two goals in the second half of the period from players Cameron Hibbert and Carson Hinkel-Lysak. Steinbach finished the period up 4-3. The back-and-forth contest was almost as even as it could get with the shot totals the same at 13 a piece and both teams getting their fair share of chances.
The game up until the end of the second period was a very even game but that changed quickly in the third period as the Pistons scored 4 unanswered goals. The Pistons powerplay got to work quick as Jack Rogers scored 1:49 into the period with assists from Owen Weihs and Dawson Milliken to make the game 5-3. The Pistons extended their lead to 3 goals as returning forward Quinton Pepper netted the puck at the 13-minute mark of the period. Two minutes later Pistons forward Marc-Antoine Ducharme added another goal to the score sheet making it 7-3. The powerplay got one last goal going 3/7 in the game as Quinton Pepper got his second goal of the game making it 8-3 and capping off a 3-point performance and Davis Fry got an assist capping off his 4-point performance (2 goals and 2 assists). The Pistons outshot the Steelers 11-5 in the third period and 24-18 in the whole game.
The Pistons have been red-hot on the penalty kill as they went 7/7 in the game keeping them perfect in preseason at 13/13.
The Pistons look to end the preseason with a win tonight against the Selkirk Steelers at T.G. Smith Centre. Gates open at 6:45pm with puck drop at 7:30pm. If you can’t make it tune in live on Hockey TV!