The Oil Capitals defeated the Steinbach Pistons 5-3 on Thursday at the Tundra Oil and Gas Place.
The Pistons got on the board early with a goal from Aiden Wagner (2:11) with the assist going to Easton Bennett. The Pistons would later build on their lead when Brendan Martin would score his 14th of the season (8:27) assisted by Boedey Vaeth.
The Oil Caps were able to regroup during the first intermission and dominate the second period starting things off with Brett Paddock scoring his first MJHL goal assisted by Josh Belcher at 11:10. Paddock, who had a strong start to the season but had recently battled through a lengthy injury that kept him out of the Oil Caps line up was thrilled. “It feels fantastic. I think I screamed louder than i’ve ever screamed before. I really needed that one.”
The Caps would later tie the game (14:38) with a power play marker when Kolten Kanaski would fire home a rebound to score his team leading 12th goal of the season. Sidoni and Rands would pick up assists on the play and the Oil Caps would head to the locker room after two on the strength of their most solid 2nd period effort of the season.
The Oil Caps would continue their strong play in the 3rd. McCullough Park would give the Oil Caps their first lead of the game, keeping the momentum established in the 2nd period going by scoring his 2nd of the season at 1:11. Paddock and Belcher would draw assists on the play.
Tristen Cross would score what would turn out to be the game winner at 7:52 on what could be described as one the the Oil Caps prettier goals of the season. Sidoni and Kanaski would draw assists on a play that started in the Oil Caps end of the rink with Cross scoring after 5 slick passes.
The Oil Caps would continue to build on their lead when Hunter Cloutier would score his 10th of the season on the power play with assists going to Cross and Dosch. Fans at the game would be reminded of the heart breaking series winning goal three seasons ago that occurred in Game 7 against the Winnipeg Blues. However, this time the Oil Caps were the recipient of the fortunate bounce off the back wall that left Cloutier with a wide open net as Piston goaltender Matt Lenz had left his crease to retrieve the puck that had been dumped by Cross.
The Pistons would get one back late in the game when Max Niel would pop in a long rebound at 18:37 assisted by Brenden Westbrook. This however would prove to be too late for a Piston comeback and the Oil Caps would take the came 5-3 win on one of their strongest team efforts of the season.
Matt Lenz was in net for 59:13 and saved a total of 24 of 29 shots on goal for the Pistons, and Dosch was in net for a full 60 minutes and saved a total of 30 of 33 shots on goal for the Capitals.
“Everyone was buying in, blocking shots and competing, “ stated Assistant Captain Tristen Cross. “Everything was falling into line for us.”
Head Coach Troy Leslie had this to say about the win on Thursday: “I thought we were solid right through. We struggled a little bit in the first period, they got out to a quick two nothing lead. But we didn’t panic and we stayed with it and were rewarded with a big win.”
The Oil Capitals face off against the OCN Blizzard Saturday 17th next at the Tundra Oil and Gas Place. Puck drop at 7:30!