For the second straight night, the Battlefords North Stars’ offence scored early and often at the Civic Centre.
The North Stars scored four times in 14 minutes during the first period as they picked a 5-1 win over the Estevan Bruins and now hold a 2-0 advantage in their Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League semifinal series.
“I think this team’s hungry right now,” North Stars head coach and general manager Nate Bedford said. “We don’t necessarily like playing against Estevan and we know that if we don’t start well, we’re going to be in trouble.
“Our offence is balanced right now through all four lines and our defence is consistent. We’re all coming around and playing well at the moment, and that makes it a fun team to be around.”
Unlike Friday night, when they scored three times in the first period but allowed the Bruins to get back into the contest, the North Stars did an excellent job of limiting the Bruins’ high-quality opportunities on offence.
“We know that we have a skilled team and the scoring chances are going to come to us, so our main focus right now is just making sure that we are keeping things simple in our own end,” North Stars forward Keaton Holinaty said.
“We chipped pucks out when we needed to out there and we did a great job of preventing them from getting the scoring chances that they had last night.”
Holinaty and Layne Young each had a goal and an assist in the victory, while Coby Downs had a pair of helpers.
Ben Allen, Logan Nachtegaele and Connor Logan also scored for the hosts.
Joel Grzybowski made his second start of the playoffs Saturday night and made 24 saves for his first career playoff win.
It was a marked improvement from his last appearance in goal for the North Stars, as he was pulled in the second period of their 4-3 win against the Weyburn Red Wings on March 21 in Game 4 of their quarter-final series.
“That Weyburn game was a tough one where the puck wasn’t going my way, so I came in with the mindset that I was going to stop everything that came at the net,” Grzybowski said.
“Everything went well, especially with the communication I had with my teammates as that helped me out a lot. Hopefully I’ll have another opportunity here in goal somewhere down the road here.”
Grzybowski’s only blemish came in the opening period when Bruins forward Kaelan Holt slid a rebound into the net.
Nathan Alalouf made 28 saves for the Bruins before being pulled in the third period for Curtis Meger, who stopped all 15 shots he faced.
“I think our goalies combined faced 105 shots or something like that this weekend, so we wanted to give Nathan a little bit of a rest there,” Bruins head coach and general manager Chris Lewgood said. “He wasn’t at his best tonight, but he was still one of our better players as we left him hanging a little bit.
“It was a little bit different game than last night but we didn’t give ourselves a chance. We dug ourselves to big of a hole and the penalties that we took were costly.”
The Bruins, who gave up three power play goals Saturday, also lost the services of forward Isaac Embree in the third period of play with an apparent left arm injury after a hit into the boards by Nachtegaele.
The game also featured a near hour delay to start the third period as repairs were made to a major gash left in the ice surface by the Zamboni.
“We were all trying to keep ourselves moving in the dressing room while we waited to see what would happen,” Holinaty said.
“That was a huge opportunity for Estevan to get back into the game with the momentum shift due to that delay, but we were able to hold them off.”
The North Stars will look to take a commanding 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven series Monday night when they’ll visit Affinity Place in Estevan for a 7:30 p.m. start.
Meanwhile, the Nipawin Hawks picked up their second win in as many nights over the Flin Flon Bombers Saturday as they picked up a 3-2 win at the Centennial Arena in Nipawin.
Kristian Stead made 34 saves, including 15 in the third period when the Hawks were outshot 17-3, to earn the victory.
Josh Bly had a goal and an assist for the Hawks, while Eric Bolden dished out a pair of helpers.
Brandan Arnold and Grant Baetsen also scored in the victory.
The Bombers offence came from the sticks of Kristian St. Onge and Eric Sinclair, while Zac Robidoux made 17 saves in the defeat.
The Hawks can take a 3-0 lead in the series Tuesday night when they’ll travel to the Whitney Forum in Flin Flon.
