Hub game recap

After falling to the Niverville Nighthawks on Friday night, the Steinbach Pistons responded with a full, hard-checking, gutsy 60-minute effort and came away with a hard-earned 5-3 win.

Both teams came out flying in the opening period, skating well, generating chances, and forcing both goaltenders to come up with some big saves.

On top of some great hockey, there were a number of hard bodychecks thrown by both teams. 

Steinbach's Cole Plowman faced 11 through the opening 20 while Niverville's Chris Fines stopped 15.

In the opening minutes of the second, the Nighthawks broke the scoreless game as Carter Spirig broke into the offensive zone and slipped a puck through the goalie and in for his 7th of the year. Eric Martin and Desmond Johnson picked up the assists.

Less than two minutes later, Evan Bortis scored his second in as many games as the big defender kept control of the puck along the boards, walked out a bit, and fired one that found a hole, making it 2-0. Josh Paulhus and Braden Panzer collected the helpers.

Steinbach needed a momentum shift and they got in from a rookie defenseman.

Just over two minutes after giving up the second goal, the Pistons worked their way into Nighthawk's territory and got a cycle going. Eventually, the puck was worked to the blueline where Noah Szabo fired a shot through traffic and in for his 2nd goal of the year.

Nick Mikan and Ian Amsbaugh picked up the assists on the goal that cut the Niverville lead in half, 2-1.

Niverville tried to regain their two-goal lead with a strong push but Plowman battled hard and made a couple of key saves, keeping his team within one.

With the energy level already cranked up, Landon Roberts blew the roof off the TG Smith Centre with a bone-rattling hit. Fans said after the game, they could hear how hard the hit was from in the stands. 

Steinbach kept pushing and found the equalizer after working the puck around the Niverville zone, draining the energy of the defenders until they could barely move. A point shot from Szabo was stopped by Neo Kiemeney was there to bury the loose puck for his 4th of the year. Travis Hensrud picked up a secondary assist on the 2-2 goal.

Plowman made some timely saves while Fines was tested repeatedly as Steinbach brought wave after wave of attack. Shots in the middle frame alone were 22-8 Steinbach. 

Once again, the Nighthawks would get the lead early in a period.

Spirig scored his second of the night as they rookie picked up a loose puck at the Pistons blueline, walked in, and fired a beauty shot top shelf for his 8th of the campaign. Carson Reed and Ben Whitford were given the assists on the 3-2 marker.

It's the last time the Nighthawks would be in front.

Spencer Penner tied the game as the 18-year-old from Bluemnort put a shot on goal that hit off a Nighthawks defender and in for his 3rd of the season. Mikan and Amsbaugh picked up the assists on the game-tying goal. 

Both teams pushed to find the go-ahead goal but Plowman and Fines refused to bend.

As the period wore on, Steinbach continued to send attackers into the offensive zone and after a scramble in the Niverville end, Ty Paisley gambled and slid to keep a puck from clearing the zone. The gamble paid off as he not only kept it in but he knocked it cleanly towards a waiting Kiemeney who turned and fired a laserbeam upstairs, bringing the home crowd to their feet and giving his team a 4-3 lead.

With the assist, Paisley now has 27 helpers on the year. Meanwhile, 20-year-old Hensrud, who also picked up an assist on the goal, now sits at 40 points for the year, one more than he had all of last year (39 points in 48 games).

As the Nighthawks tried to find the goal to even things up, strong defensive work by Steinbach and some incredible work by Plowman kept them from finding the back of the net as a massive scramble formed on the side of the goal.

Despite Niverville's best efforts, they couldn't break through and it remained a 4-3 until Davis Fry sealed it with an empty netter. For Fry, that's 16 goals on the year. Dawson Milliken picked up one assist as did goalie Cole Plowman, who got the play started with a nice blocker save which he directed toward the corner for Milliken.

The final buzzer sounded and Steinbach saluted their home fans after a very entertaining 5-3 win.

Plowman improved his record to 12-2, making 22 saves.

Fines took the loss finishing with 48 saves.

The Piston's power play was 0-6 while their penalty kill went 1-1.

Steinbach will be back in action Wednesday when they travel to Portage to take on the Terriers.

The Nighthawks are off until Saturday when they visit the Winnipeg Blues.