Pistons sweep weekend pair

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This article was published 17/02/2018 (2252 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Steinbach Pistons swept a pair of games with relative ease on a weekend road trip to the Manitoba northwest.

Posting a 5-1 victory over the Swan Valley Stampeders Friday night at Swan River, the Pistons followed that up with a 4-1 triumph over the Dauphin Kings Saturday night at Dauphin.

The Pistons have now clinched first place and have claimed the Manitoba Junior Hockey League pennant for the second straight year.

Friday at Swan River, the Pistons skated to period leads of 2-0 and 4-0, and received goals from Mark Wilson, Brady Tatro, Will Koop, Riese Gaber and Drew Worrad.

Matthew Thiessen made 32 saves for the Pistons as he lowered his league-leading goals average to 2.00 and a leading .926 save percentage.

Last weekend in Steinbach, the Dauphin Kings upset the Pistons 4-3 in overtime, snapping Steinbach`s 10-game win streak. Brennan Kitchen made 52 saves in that contest for the Kings.

Saturday night at Dauphin it was more of the same as Kitchen faced a lot of rubber making 63 saves, but this time the Pistons came out on top, which included an empty netter. The Pistons outshot the Kings by a mind-boggling 67-22, including 27-6 in the period alone as the Pistons again threw the kitchen sink at Kitchen.
Kitchen kept the Kings in the game as the Pistons could only muster period leads of 1-0 and 2-1, despite outshooting the Kings 46-14 through two periods.

Defenceman Mark Taraschuk led the Pistons with two goals, giving him 10 on the season. Tanner Mole and Bradley Schoonbaert added singles. Matthew Radomsky picked up the win in net for the Pistons, making 21 saves.

Schoonbaert’s goal was his 34th of the season as the continues to lead the MJHL scoring race, now with 85 points and a three-point lead over Dexter Kuczek of the Winnipeg Blues.

Steinbach improves their record to 43-8-2-1 for 89 points and a 13-point lead on the second place Virden Oil Capitals.

The Pistons will host the Winkler Flyers Monday afternoon (Louis Riel Day) at 2:30 p.m. at the T.G. Smith Centre. The Flyers are fifth in the standings with a 32-23-0-0 record.