Jeremey Leipsic had 3 points on the night to lead the Portage Terriers past the Steinbach Pistons 3-0 at the TG Smith Centre.
Lasse Petersen made 30 saves for the shutout, while Pistons goalie Matthew Thiessen continued his hot play stopping 38 of 41 Portage shots. The Terriers became the first team to shut out the Pistons this season, who are the highest scoring team in the MJHL (112 goals scored).
Playing in a rivalry game, the Terriers outmatched the Pistons in almost every aspect of the game, outcompeting the men in white on almost every shift. “We didn’t have the compete level that we had to have to play a team like (the Terriers),” assistant coach Joey Moggach said after the game. “We weren’t very sharp tonight.”
Thiessen was one of the bright spots for the Pistons, stoning the Terriers at every turn and keeping his team in the game. “He just seems to be getting better and better,” Moggach said of his young goaltender. “He looked really sound in all the saves that he made, and there weren’t too many pucks laying around him.”
The few rebounds that the Terriers got were the ones they scored on. Ty Barnstable capitalized on a rebound off of a Troy Williams shot, and notched his 6th of the season at 12:04 of the first period.
In the 2nd, Leipsic buried his only goal on a Terrier power play for a 2-0 lead halfway through the second period. In the final period, Leipsic put the puck on goal and James McIsaac whacked home his 11th of the year to finish the game.
POINT STREAK ENDS
The Pistons 8 game win streak ended with yesterday’s 3-2 OT loss to the Winkler Flyers, but today their consecutive games streak of picking up points ended tonight. The Pistons’ last regulation loss came almost one month ago against the Terriers on October 18th.
UP NEXT: The Pistons hit the road on the weekend, as they will play the same two teams faced this week. They face the Winkler Flyers on Friday at the Winkler Recreational Complex, and then will travel to Portage on Sunday for a evening game at Stride Place.