It looked as if the Pistons had a couple of points in the bank Tuesday night but two trips to the sin bin, one late in the third period and the other in overtime, resulted in two goals against as the Winkler Flyers came back to win 3-2 in extra time.
Steinbach had the potent Flyers offense locked down for most of the night, however they’ll travel back home with only one point to show for it.
Dorrin Luding picked up the win with 19 saves on the night, while Matt Lenz played well in the loss with 23 saves overall.
The Pistons got off to a great start in the first period, outshooting Winkler 12-6 and also notched the game’s first marker. David Queree made a nice pass out in front to Jack Kilroy, and the Denver native tapped the puck past Luding to give the road team a 1-0 advantage 3:52 into the game. The goal was the Denver native’s first since returning from injury and his 3rd goal of the season.
The Flyers would respond in the period on a rebound goal by forward Eric Fawkes to knot the game up at 1 with 3:38 to go in the first.
But Steinbach would quickly regain the lead 3:15 into the second period. Joey Dosan won the faceoff back to Zach Purcell, who ripped the puck over the shoulder of Luding for his 13th goal of the season and a 2-1 Pistons lead.
Winkler did come close to tying it in the second period on a shot by Jaden Townsend, but that one rang off the crossbar and out.
Lenz also stoned the Flyers on an early power play chance for the home side in the third period, as he pushed across and robbed Ian Tookenay of a sure goal with the left pad.
Steinbach were doing a solid job of not giving up quality scoring looks, but that would change after Ryan Butler took a slashing penalty with 1:38 left in the third period. Winkler would win the draw and fire the puck high and wide, but the carom found the stick of their leading goal scorer Jayden McCarthy and he made no mistake to tie it up six seconds after the faceoff.
The Pistons went immediately behind the eight-ball in overtime as Codey Behun hauled down a Flyer forward, sending the home team to a 4-on-3 man advantage. They would send their fans home happy as Sulivan Shortreed buried a rebound off of a Griffin Leonard wrister in the slot for the win just 44 seconds into extra time.
SPECIAL TEAMS
Special teams continue to be a pitfall of the Pistons lately, going 0 for 1 on the man advantage while giving two late power play goals and finishing 3 for 5 on the penalty kill.
UP NEXT: Steinbach returns home for a two-game set on the weekend, as they take on the OCN Blizzard on Friday night and the Virden Oil Capitals on Saturday. You can reserve your seats inside the TG Smith by heading online to Steinbachpistons.ca/tickets.