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The Steinbach Pistons kept getting better and better as the game went along while the Niverville Nighthawks struggled to keep up, eventually leading to a 6-1 Pistons win at the CRRC Wednesday night.
In the opening seconds of the game, the Nighthawks had a glorious chance to open the scoring but Steinbach’s Cole Plowman stood tall making a big save before the defenders were able to clear the puck.
After that one chance against, Steinbach started to take over. A few shifts into the game, Niverville took a penalty and the Pistons took the lead.
David Cote scored on the man advantage to put the Pistons up 1-0. Cote’s 5th of the year was set up by Trey Sauder and Noah Szabo.
Another power play a few minutes later gave the Pistons a 2-0 lead after a pretty passing play in the offensive zone. Grady Hoffman chipped a puck to Leo Chambers, who went across the ice with a hard pass to Connor Paronuzzi. The 18-year-old put it right back on a tee for Chambers who wired home his 14th of the year.
Niverville managed to cut the lead in half on a power play of their own. Alex Walicki buried his 13th of the year from Michael Tanchak and Brendan Bottem.
In the second, Jamie Fuchs gave Steinbach their two-goal lead back as the 19-year-old BC product took a pass in the slot from Sam Noad and wired home his 12th of the year. Shane Burns picked up the secondary assist on the 3-1 goal.
A 5 on 3 opportunity for Niverville had the crowd buzzing at the possibility of getting the game a little closer but the Pistons led by Plowman, managed to kill off the shortened two-man advantage, keeping the two goal lead for the visitors.
Shift after shift, the Pistons put on the pressure but the score held heading into the second intermission.
Just over a minute into the final frame, Spencer Penner fired a quick pass up to Kirk Mullen who chipped it over to Brett Kaiser who walked in and buried his 5th of the year. For Kaiser, it was his first goal since November 11th.
Coming into the game, Hoffman led all MJHL rookies in goals and points. He added to those totals with back-to-back goals to close out any hope for Niverville.
First, Hoffman cashed in on a rebound from a Paronuzzi shot, notching his 22nd. Jack Cook picked up the bonus assist on the 5-1 goal.
The final goal of the night came once again off the stick of Hoffman, who took a pass from Chambers and snapped home his 23rd of the campaign. Hoffman’s now scored 4 goals in his last 2 games.
Plowman wasn’t overly tested but he came up big early, giving his guys time to find their legs and eventually dominate the game. The 20-year-old netminder’s 22 saves gave him his 22nd win.
Steinbach’s power play went 2-4 while the penalty kill was a strong 4-5.
With the win, the Pistons extend thier winning streak to 11 games while the Nighthawks have now lost back-to-back games and been outscored 12-1 in those two contests.
The Pistons will head off to Winkler on Friday, followed up by a trip to Dauphin on Saturday night.
Niverville hosts the Selkirk Steelers in a big contest on Friday night, then get the rest of the weekend off.