Fresh off a five-goal performance in the third period, the Battlefords North Stars travelled to Kindersley for a chance to sweep the series and await their second round opponent. The black and white also had a shot at their 15th straight win carrying over from the regular season.
Klippers goalie, Nathan Hargrave, had other plans, and swiped a 4-1 victory away from the North Stars, who lost for the first time since Jan. 27th.
In the opening frame it was the netminders from both teams who stole the show, however. Sometimes your goaltender has to be your best penalty killer, and Hargrave sure provided that spark. A scramble play in front of the net found the puck bounce off the pad of Hargrave and trickle into the crease. Layne Young drove to the net and fired a shot that surely should have hit twine, but Hargrave, down and out, threw his glove out and was able to rob the rookie of the year of his fourth of the postseason.
On the other side, Tyler Fuhr made nine saves and was able to shut down Kindersley on their power play as well. He made a big pad stop on Josh Bly as he skated into the slot and made the saves the North Stars needed him to make down the stretch.
After 20 minutes, Kindersley led the shots department 9-8, while both penalty kill units were perfect.
The North Stars opened the scoring in the middle frame from familiar faces. Coby Downs and Young broke into the offensive zone while shorthanded. Downs was able to find Young in the slot where Hargrave made a big post-to-post save, but kicked out the rebound. The California native made a smart move to not peel off from the play and skated to the crease, depositing the rebound into the back of the net for his fourth goal of the series.
Kindersley came right back, finishing the power play off with a goal to deadlock the game at one apiece. Daniell Lange teed up Austin Calladine on the right wing before rifling a one-timer through the five-hole of Fuhr, scoring his second of the second round.
The goal scorer from the Klippers wouldn’t be done there. Calladine stopped up on the right wing midway through the second period before saucering a pass to a pinching Nick Rein. Rein was able to corral the cross-ice pass before beating Fuhr under the glove, giving Kindersley a 2-1 lead. Dexter Bricker drew the second helper.
Kindersley continued to pour on the offence with just over a minute left in the middle stanza. Carson Pickett and the Klippers caught the North Stars on a bad change. Kendall Fransoo lost his footing, providing Pickett with a clear lane to the net. The forward made no mistake, going forehand, backhand, then back to his forehand to beat a sprawling Fuhr, and giving the Klippers a two-goal advantage for the first time in the series. Rein and Dexter Bricker collaborated on his first of the playoffs.
In the final frame the North Stars were continuously buzzing around the net of the Klippers, but were unable to beat Hargrave and get themselves back into it. They had a nice tic-tac-toe play between Young, Downs and Leonenko but couldn’t find the back of the net in the deep slot. Rein added an empty netter to make it 4-1.
“They earned it. They earned that win tonight, they were the better team … We will have to regroup and watch that one on tape,” Head Coach Kevin Hasselberg said after the game.
He also spoke about the power play woes, and the need for ugly goals.
“We have to learn from the success that we’ve had. You can talk all you want about the cross-ice plays, and the tic-tac-toe stuff, it’s pretty, but they haven’t gone in the net. The stuff that’s gone in the net is the stuff that’s floating [deflecting].”
The black and white went 0 for four on the man advantage.
The series now shifts back to the Battlefords tomorrow, where the North Stars will have another chance to move onto the semifinal.
