Three Piston power-play goals proved to be the difference as the Winkler Flyers lost 6-4 at home on Saturday night as their exhibition season continued. A night after dropping a 6-1 decision in Steinbach, the Flyers dressed another young group of hopefuls who were still in search of an opening night roster spot.
It was a busy first period as the Pistons beat Winkler netminder Aaron Brunn, 5:47 into the game. The Flyers got that one back not even a minute later when second year forward Trent Halfdanson scored a pretty goal with Colton Friesen drawing the lone assist. The home side took their first lead of the game just past the midway point of the period thanks to Kyle Lang’s power-play goal.
However, Steinbach scored twice more before the end of the period, including one of the power-play and led 3-2 after 20 minutes.
Sandwiched between two Steinbach goals in the second, Flyers forward Colton Friesen scored on a partial breakaway but the Flyers still trailed 5-3 heading into the third.
The Pistons’ third power-play goal of the game gave them a three goal lead to start the third. Winkler cut that lead to 6-4 with 9:46 to play in the game when Kyle Lang and Matt Krawiec assisted on Corey Stormer’s goal. Despite nearly two minutes of play with the extra attacker at the end of the period, the Flyers could not pull any closer, dropping their second pre-season game in a row.
Aaron Brunn and Jack Faulkner split time in goal for Winkler. Brunn stopped 11 of the 15 shots he faced, while Faulkner stopped seven of nine.
The Flyers (1-3) will travel to Neepawa on Tuesday night with puck drop at the Yellowhead Centre taking place at 7:30pm. You can catch the game live on www.hockeytv.com