A day after a 6-1 win at the TG Smith Centre on Friday, the Steinbach Pistons defeated the Flyers 6-4 on Saturday to wrap up two wins over the weekend.
Danton Belluk and Matt Lenz both split time in the Steinbach net again, and both put in solid performances for the Pistons with Belluk making 10 saves, and Lenz with 6 saves.
The Pistons started off with the first goal, as Carter Loney continued to impress with his 2nd goal of the preseason on a breakaway to make it 1-0 5:47 into the first period. Logan Danis picked up his 5th assist of the preseason, which leads all MJHL players.
Winkler scored two quick goals to take the lead, as Trent Halfdanson scored 40 seconds after Loney’s goal from Colton Friesen. Kyle Lang gave Winkler the lead on the power play at the 11:11 mark from Garrett Kuklica and Carson McConnell, the brother of Pistons forward Tyson McConnell.
Loney would tie the game up, as his wrist shot from the left circle got through Flyers goaltender Aaron Brunn, with Tanner Mole providing the screen on the power play. It was Loney’s second of the game (3rd of preseason) with 6:28 left in period 1, with Curtis Ireland picking up the helper. The Pistons would carry a 3-2 lead into the first intermission thanks to Troy Beauchemin’s 2nd of the preseason with 22 seconds left, with Declan Graham and Max Neill getting the apples.
The Pistons would double their lead in the 2nd, as new Pistons forward Marcel Berube notched his first of the preseason unassisted at the 7:32 mark.
Winkler hit back on the scoreboard, as Colton Friesen responded for the Flyers with over 8 minutes to go in the second to make it 4-3. But then Berube struck again on the power play with under four to play, nabbing his 2nd of the game from Ireland to make it 5-3 Steinbach after 40.
Beauchemin got in on the two goal party, as Declan Graham threw a beauty cross ice pass for a tap-in goal past Flyers’ backup Jack Faulkner on the power play to make it 6-3 for the Pistons. Connor Tyhy had the secondary assist on Beauchemin’s 3rd goal of the preseason.
Winkler added their 4th of the game halfway through the final frame, as Matt Krawiec’s cross ice pass found Corey Stormer for his 1st of the preseason to make it 6-4. That was all the scoring the Flyers would get, as the Pistons picked up their 3rd win of the exhibition schedule.
SPECIAL TEAMS
The Pistons power play proved to be the difference, going 3/6 with the man advantage. The Flyers went 1/3 on their power plays.
NEXT GAME: The Pistons head to the BellMTS Iceplex in Winnipeg to take on the Blues at 7:00 pm CDT on Tuesday, September 11th before concluding their exhibition schedule with a home and home series against the Selkirk Steelers on Friday and Saturday. You can watch all of these game live on HockeyTV.