The Steinbach Pistons battled hard in The Dog Pound tonight and came out on top with a 5-3 Game 4 Quarterfinal victory to put the Portage Terriers on the brink of elimination, going up 3-1 in the series.
Steinbach’s starts to games haven’t been great so far in the series. They’ve given up the first goal in every matchup leading up to Game Four, but that changed as Liam Doyle, coming off a four-point night in Game 3 on Tuesday, opened the scoring with a one-timer set up by Connor Paronuzzi on the power play to get on the scoreboard 2:38 into the contest with his third of the playoffs.
Rory Gilmour found the back of the net for his first at the midway point of the first frame. Marek Miller fed him a cross-ice pass and he walked right into the slot to beat Ryan Velan low blocker side, opening up a two-goal lead.
Adam Belzil answered back for Portage just 34 seconds later to get his team on the board with his second, followed by Dylan Karran’s first at 17:00 to tie the game 2-2 heading into the first intermission.
The four-goal opening stanza was the highest-scoring opening period of the series so far.
Evan Gradt potted the go-ahead tally just over the midway point of the game at 10:19 to make it 3-2 with his first. Charlie Velner spotted Gradt at the top of the crease and he tapped it past Velan.
Zhenya Miles restored the Pistons’ two-goal lead 3:47 into the final 20 minutes to start to add some panic to the home team. The Pistons peppered Velan with multiple shots and the third one finally got by him when Miles wired his second past the Portage goaltender.
The Terriers made it a one-goal game at 10:32 when Edward Knittig got his first past Chris Quizi, making it 4-3.
Jackson Kostiuk continued to tear up the scoresheet late in the game as Sam Noad found the 19-year-old all alone in the slot and he quickly ripped it by Velan for his team-leading sixth goal of the playoffs with 3:19 to go in the game.
Steinbach held on to take a commanding 3-1 series lead while Quizi, who was brilliant between the pipes, earned First Star of the Game with 36 saves for a .923 SV%.
Game 5 is set for tomorrow night back at the SEC, where the Pistons will look to punch their ticket to the Second Round of the Turnbull Cup Playoffs. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. CT and you can watch on FloHockey.
Article Written by Evan Waldner – Picture provided by Kalee Haasbeek Photography
