The Winkler Flyers lost in regulation for the first time in nearly a month on Tuesday night, dropping a 3-2 decision to the Wolverines in Waywayseecappo. Jayden McCarthy (17) and Carson Pawlenchuk (5) did the goal scoring for the Flyers who saw their point streak stopped at 10 straight games.
Entering play having earned at least a point in 17 of their last 18 games, and a 7-0-3 record over their last 10 outings, the Winkler Flyers made the trip to Waywayseecappo for their third meeting of the year against the Wolverines. With wins in the two previous meetings, the Orange and Black had four 20 year old veterans out of the lineup and lost a fifth one early in the game due to injury.
The Flyers opened the scoring with a short-handed goal just over eleven minutes into the game when Ian Tookenay created a turnover in the neutral zone which sent Jayden McCarthy into the attacking zone. The second year Flyer went in and scored his 17th of the season and 12th in his last 11 games to give Winkler a 1-0 lead.
That lead was short lived however, as the Wolverines tied the game with a nice tip in goal just 25 seconds later. Wayway struck again on the power-play later in the period and carried a 2-1 lead into the break.
Wayway Captain Nick Doyle scored the only goal of the second period and the Flyers entered the final frame down by two. In their previous 27 games played this season, the Flyers had entered the third period trailing only seven times and had not yet picked up the victory in that situation.
The Flyers got their chances to edge closer in the third, but unfortunately their comeback started a bit late. On the power-play late in regulation, the Flyers pulled their goaltender to give themselves a 6-on-4 man advantage. With 18 seconds left on the clock, the puck came out to Carson Pawlenchuk who scored his fifth of the season to cut Wayway’s lead to 3-2. Alex Cattani and Jackson Arpin drew the assists but that is as close as Winkler would get.
Dylan Meilun took the loss making 22 saves as the Wolverines outshot the Flyers 25-19. Winkler went 1-for-5 on the power-play and 3-for-4 on the penalty-kill. It was Winkler’s first regulation loss since losing 3-0 in Selkirk on November 5th, and just their second since losing 3-2 at home to Portage on October 15th. It was also the first time all season that the Flyers lost in regulation after scoring the first goal of the game or scoring a goal on the power-play.
The third place Flyers (17-7-4) will begin a three game home stand on Friday night when they welcome the Virden Oil Capitals to the Winkler Recreation Complex. Puck drop for Petro-Canada Black Friday is 7:30pm. You can video stream the game with a subscription to www.hockeytv.com
NOTE: Goaltender Dorrin Luding and forward Griffin Leonard both served the final games of their suspensions on Tuesday night. Veteran defenseman Garrett Szeremley missed his second game due to injury and Everett Bestland missed the game with an illness. Forward Mateo Albinti left Tuesday’s game early in the first period with an injury.