NIPAWIN — With home ice advantage in their back pocket thanks to a Game 1 win, the Nipawin Hawks squandered an excellent opportunity to go home up 2-0 with a 3-1 loss to the Steinbach Pistons in game two action from Steinbach.
The April 28 loss left the two teams tied at one, with the series shifting back to Nipawin for Games 3, 4, and 5.
It was a particularly disappointing loss for the black and gold, who gave up three unanswered third period goals in the loss.
Despite the disappointing loss, the news was not all bad for the Hawks, who still managed a split of the first two games, something head coach Doug Johnson says he would have taken before the series.
“We have home ice advantage now. It’s a five-game series, we have three games at home and the great thing is the next three games are at home so we swing from not having home ice to having home ice. We swung from a seven-game series to a five-game series. We feel pretty comfortable but at the end of the day we’ve just got to take care of business on the ice.”
Braden Purtill led the way offensively for the Pistons scoring twice, while Austin Heidemann added the other goal, and Mark Wilson chipped in with three assists.
Matthew Thiessen pick-ed up the win in the Pistons goal turning aside 25 of the 26 shots he faced.
Logan Casavant responded with the lone Hawks goal, while Wayde Johannesson and Brandan Arnold chipped in with the assists.
Declan Hobbs was charged with the loss in the Hawks goal allowing three goals on 32 shots as the Hawks were outshot 32-26.
Despite dropping their first of the series, it was not a terrible start for the Hawks as they held a 9-6 edge in shots, with Casavant scoring the lone first period marker.
After a scoreless second period, the Pistons came alive in the third, scoring three times while outshooting the Hawks 13-5.
Heidemann opened the third period scoring with his second on the series, on the power play, at 4:06.
Purtill added his first of the series at 10:32, and another just over three minutes later, to give the Pistons a 3-1 lead they would never relinquish.
Despite watching his club give up three in the third to lose, Johnson was not overly upset with the effort level of his club, noting penalties and mistakes caught up with his club.
“Not necessarily mental mistakes but mistakes that we know better and I think a lot of that’s just the fatigue from winning Tuesday, hopping on a bus Wednesday, playing Friday and everything that’s gone with it.”
After combining for just six power plays in the opener, the referees were much more liberal with their whistles in game two, as the teams combined for ten man advantage opportunities.
The Hawks were the greatest beneficiaries of the referees’ whistles as they moved from one power play in Game 1 to 5 in Game 2.
Unfortunately for the visitors, the extra power plays did not yield extra results, as they failed to score on any of their five chances.
The Pistons meanwhile, were much more efficient on their man advantage opportunities, scoring twice on five chances.
The Hawks will look to get back in the win column and regain their series edge with Game 3 at home May 1.
Returning to the friendly confines of the cage, and Nipawin itself, will be huge for his guys, says Johnson, who notes having a couple of days off will also help.
“Our home ice has been pretty good all year so we know how to deal with our rink. It’s not a lot different than Steinbach but there is some differences and we look to exploit those,” says Johnson.
“Also, we’re sleeping in our bed, we’re eating our billets cooking. We have our fans, we can feed off the energy where you hear the cage roaring you have no fatigue, when you hear the cage roaring the injuries, the pain that you have fades away so that’s something we’ve just got to feed off.”
