The Winkler Flyers scored two goals in the third period on Saturday night, in a 4-3 win over the Swan Valley Stampeders , earning their third straight come from behind victory. Trailing 3-1 in the second, the Flyers came from behind to pick up their 24th win of the season.
After beating OCN on Friday night in the first game of their three game swing, the Flyers traveled to Swan River looking for their third win in three tries against the Stamps. The Flyers started the game off right with a goal in the opening minute. During the game’s first shift, the puck kicked out to the top of the left faceoff circle and defenseman Jordan Wall stepped into a slap shot, beating Stampeders’ goaltender Zach De Graves for his third of the year just 26 seconds into the game. Tristan Keck and Kurt Sonne drew the assists.
Despite generating a good number of chances in the first, the Flyers failed to build on their lead. Swan Valley though, tied the game 1-1 with 4:50 to go in the period and the two teams skated into the intermission tied, despite Winkler leading on the shot clock 13-4.
The Stamps scored the next two goals and led the game 3-1 with 9:22 to play in the second. Winkler started chipping away the Swan Valley’s lead with their second goal late in the period. With 3:26 left in the period, Scott Gall redirected Connor Hamonic’s point shot past De Graves for his first goal in seven games, cutting Swan Valley’s lead to 3-2. Coltyn Bates also assisted on Gall’s 14th of the year.
Trailing after 40 minutes for just the seventh time all season, the Flyers pulled even early in the third. Just 5:19 into the period, Cam Whyte scored his team leading 22nd goal off the rebound of Mitch Dyck’s point shot and the game was tied 3-3.
The Flyers finally regained the lead thanks to an unbelievable goal by Tristan Keck with just over five minutes remaining in regulation. After taking the pass from defenseman Tyler Jubenvill, Keck raced down the left wing into the offensive zone, blew past the Swan Valley defenseman and wired a wrist shot into the top corner giving Winkler a 4-3 lead. It was Keck’s 19th of the season.
Like they had done the night before in OCN, the Flyers buckled down the rest of the way, and protected their one goal lead right to the final buzzer.
Connor Slipp, made 17 saves while earning his 12th win in 13 starts. The Flyers outshot Swan Valley 37-20 overall. Winkler was 0-for-3 on the power-play and 5-for-5 on the penalty-kill.
Winkler (24-5-2) will travel to Dauphin (11-17-2) on Sunday to conclude their three game road trip. Puck drop at Credit Union Place is 7pm with Matt Friesen’s pregame show getting underway at 6:55pm on Country 88.9FM and online at www.pembinavalleyonline.com. The Flyers are 2-0 vs Dauphin this season.
Great Canadian Oil Change Three Stars
1st Star – F Tristan Keck (Winkler)
2nd Star – F Scott Gall (Winkler)
3rd Star – G Zach De Graves (Swan Valley)
Winkler Canvas Hardest Working Flyer
D – Connor Hamonic