Goaltenders Dasan Sydora and Nick Deery put on quite the show, Tuesday night in Winkler as the Steinbach Pistons edged the Flyers 2-0 in their final meeting of the regular season. Scoreless through 53 minutes of play, the visitors took the lead and added an empty net goal to secure the victory.
Having earned at least a point in their last four games, the Flyers welcomed the Steinbach Pistons for their final head to head match up of the regular season. Winkler had a (2-2-1) record in their five previous meetings against Steinbach.
After a scoreless, yet entertaining opening period, the two teams continued to trade chances in the second. It was a physical and fast paced hockey game and went into the third period tied 0-0 thanks in large part to the two goaltenders.
The Flyers continued to generate chances in the third and came within inches of taking the lead. Many of their scoring opportunities either hit the post or were picked off the goal line by goaltender Nick Deery.
With 6:46 left in regulation, Steinbach finally got one past Dasan Sydora for the 1-0 lead. With Winkler now pressing for the equalizer, the Flyers pulled Sydora for the extra attacker and again, came extremely close to finding the back of the net. The Pistons secured the victory with an empty net goal with 3.8 seconds to play and skated away with the 2-0 win.
Dasan Sydora played exceptionally well in the loss, making 35 saves on the 36 shots he faced. Steinbach outshot Winkler 37-35 overall. The Flyers went 0-for-6 on the power-play and 3-for-3 on the penalty-kill.
The Flyers, who are tied for fourth place with Virden are now six points back of the third place Winnipeg Blues with 11 games left in the regular season. The Flyers will head back on the road this weekend when they play in Waywayseecappo on Friday and Neepawa on Saturday. Both games can be heard on Country 88.9FM and online at www.pembinavalleyonline.com with Matt Friesen’s pregame show beginning at 7:25pm.