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FLYERS USE THIRD PERIOD COMEBACK TO GET PAST VIRDEN – OCTOBER 16

The Winkler Flyers scored four straight goals in the third period in a 5-3 win over the visiting Virden Oil Capitals on Tuesday night. Colton Friesen scored twice and Connor Beebe and Drake Burgin also recorded multi-point nights to help the Flyers move back to .500 on the season.

 

Returning home after beating the Oil Caps in a shoot-out in Virden on Saturday night, the Orange and Black went in search of their third win at home and third victory overall in their last five games. Winkler came out of the gate strong and outshot Virden 14-9 in the first period, but for the eighth straight game, they gave up the game’s first goal. Not even two minutes after the Oil Caps had taken 1-0 lead on the power-play, Jesse Korytko finished off a nice pass out of the corner from Griffin Leonard and the game was tied 1-1. It was Korytko’s fourth of the season as both he and Leonard had pushed their point streaks to five games.

 

Before the end of the period, the Oil Capitals took advantage of a turnover inside the Winkler zone to move in front 2-1 before intermission.

 

Winkler continued to push the pace in the middle frame but would again fall victim to the Virden power-play as the visitors took a 3-1 lead despite being outshot 11-5 in the second.

 

Trailing by two goals early in the third, the Flyers got the spark they were looking for with 8:14 gone in the period. Looking to go off on a line change, rookie forward Colton Friesen wired a shot on goal from just outside the Virden blueline. The shot found the top corner of the Oil Caps net cutting Virden’s lead to 3-2.

 

Then with just over six minutes left to play, captain Connor Beebe spotted Brody Moffatt charging to the net and the Flyers’ assistant captain potted his team leading fifth of the season to tie the game 3-3. It was Moffatt’s seventh point in his last six games. Winkler kept coming and took their first lead of the night with 3:35 remaining on the clock when Friesen scored his second of the game, tipping in a Noah Goertzen point shot and Winkler found themselves leading 4-3.

 

The final nail in the coffin came in the final minute when rookie defenseman Drake Burgin crept in from the point and scored a power-play goal, giving Winkler a 5-3 lead.

 

Riley Morgan made 19 saves in the win as the Flyers outshot the Oil Capitals 35-22. Winkler went 1-for-3 on the power-play and 0-for-2 on the penalty-kill.

 

The Flyers (5-5-1) will host the OCN Blizzard (1-9-0) in their next game on Friday night. Puck drop at the Winkler Recreation Complex is 7:30pm and you can catch the game live with a subscription to www.hockeytv.com.

 

GAME STATS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3kEx-A8pZU&feature=youtu.be