The Steinbach Pistons have bounced back following a three-game skid and now are on a three-game winning streak after victories over the Winnipeg Blues and Swan Valley Stampeders this past weekend.

Feel Good Friday

Coming off a complete team win over the Portage Terriers two nights before, the Pistons continued the good times with a 3-0 shutout win on the road against the Blues Friday night.

In the first period, it was the road team that generated a couple of chances but just couldn't force the puck over the goalline. 

Despite outshooting the Blues 13-4, the Pistons went into the first intermission tied 0-0.

In the second, Landon Roberts broke the scoreless draw as the 20-year-old converted on a Blues turnover in the slot to make it 1-0 Steinbach. For Roberts, it was goal 11 on the season while Travis Hensrud picked up the lone assist.

The 1-0 lead was held thanks to some solid defensive work and timely saves by goalie Dominik Wasik who only faced 8 shots throughout 40 minutes of hockey.

In the third, Hensrud gave Steinbach a bit of breathing room as the 20-year-old sniper picked a corner and beat the Blues netminder with a perfect shot for his 28th of the year. Roberts picked up the only assist on the 2-0 goal.

While Wasik wasn't overly tested throughout the contest, his best save came with his team on a power play.

As the Pistons tried to rush the puck up the ice, they turned it over right at their blueline allowing a Blues player to break in but Wasik came out to challenge and the 20-year-old who just committed to Air Force made a solid blocking arm save, keeping the game at 2-0.

In the final minutes with the goalie pulled, defender Parker Jasper broke up a Blues rush at the Pistons blueline. The 19-year-old showed great awareness and instead of shooting the puck from the wrong side of center which would have been icing, he fought his way to the redline and as the Winnipeg defenders converged around him, he flipped the puck to Kirk Mullen who broke in and sealed the game with an empty netter. 

For Mullen, it was his 8th of the season. Jasper nabbed one assist while Hunter Degelman grabbed the secondary apple.

Wasik finished the night with 17 saves for his 4th shutout of the season.

Steinbach's power play was 0 for 5 but their penalty kill, which took a hit against Portage, rebounded with a rock-solid effort finishing 5-5.

Putting Their Stamp On Swan Valley

After a day off on Saturday, Sunday saw the Pistons continue to surge offensively while the penalty kill was put to the test over and over again, but when the dust settled, it was a Pistons 5-3 win over the Swan Valley Stampeders.

Ian Amsbaugh, who's been on an absolute heater, continued his solid play as the 20-year-old opened the scoring after forcing a turnover near his own blueline, then blazing a trail into the offensive zone before burying a breakaway backhand upstairs for his 15th of the year.

On a power play a few minutes later, Dawson Milliken battled his way to the front of the net and got a stick on a Langley Kruggel point shot, deflecting home his 9th of the year giving his team a 2-0 lead. Parker Jasper picked up the secondary assist.

Penalty's started to pile up for Steinbach in the second period.

After a successful kill to start the period, the Pistons earned a man advantage and it was Leo Chambers cashing in for his 15th of the year. Amsbaugh notched an assist setting up Chambers with a sweet pass before Chamber unloaded a cannon past the Stamps goalie. Jasper picked up another helper, his third in as many games. 

Things were slowly getting more and more heated throughout the first and into the second. Both teams did a lot of talking after whistles and on more than a few occasions, there were dustups that had to be split up by the linesmen. 

After both teams took a penalty, Swan and Steinbach set out for some 4-on-4 hockey. Great work by Dawson Milliken and Kirk Mullen earned the Pistons the puck in the offensive zone and it was a streaking Langley Kruggel who took the pass and buried a beauty for his 6th of the year, making it 4-0 for the home side.

In the final minutes of the period, Dominik Wasik's shutout streak was snapped when the Stamps converted on a pretty 3-on-1 passing play to cut the lead to 4-1.

Early in the third, Swan again put a dent into the lead making it a 4-2 game with less than three minutes played.

Steinbach was able to respond thanks to the hard work of Hunter Degelman and Brett Kaiser. It was Kaiser that picked up a puck in the offensive zone and slid a pass over to Degelman who made no mistake cashing in for his 5th of the year to restore the three-goal lead, now 5-2.

After the Degelman goal, Steinbach kept hitting the score sheet but not in the goals ledger, but in the penalty one.

The penalty kill unit went to work and managed to kill off numerous power play opportunities thanks to some great saves by Wasik and timely, gutsy blocks from all the players tasked with shorthanded duty.

With under three minutes to go in the game, Davis Fry crunched a Stampder defender in the corner by the Zamboni gate. The hit garnered the attention of the Swan players and it was the player Fry hit that got up and went after the 19-year-old. Fry dropped his gloves and the two had a spirited tilt before the wrestling takedown ended the fight.

Fry was assessed a major penalty for checking from behind, plus 5 minutes for fighting and a game misconduct. Heading into the game, Fry had 14 minutes in penalties. In that sequence alone, he had 30.

Swan managed to finally score on a 5-on-3 power play after Steinbach went 8-8 and battled throughout. 

More chatter and conversations happened as the horn sounded and Steinbach came away with a 5-3 win. 

Wasik notched his second win of the weekend finishing with 34 saves and was named the game's first star.

Steinbach scored twice on the power play to go 2-6 while the penalty kill finished 8-9.

Showcase Break

Steinbach as a team won't play again until Friday but several players will be representing the organization at the MJHL/SJHL Showcase taking place in Winnipeg Tuesday and Wednesday.

Warren Clark, Noah Szabo, Nick Mikan, Ty Paisley (injured), Dawson Milliken, Travis Hensrud, Ian Amsbaugh, Landon Roberts, Davis Fry, Leo Chambers, and Dominik Wasik will be on various teams going up against some of the best the SJHL has to offer.

Get tickets to the games by going to MJHLHockey.ca