Special teams play proved to be the difference for the Battlefords North Stars Saturday night at the Civic Centre.
Thanks to three power play goals and a penalty kill that stymied the Notre Dame Hounds’ on their six power plays, the North Stars earned a 4-1 win and rebounded from a 3-1 loss they suffered on the road Friday to the Nipawin Hawks.
“Tonight was all about capitalizing on our chances,” North Stars forward Connor Logan said.
“We had good puck movement all night long and we’re moving our feet as well to drive towards the net. That was a big difference in our game compared to a night ago, as we weren’t generating enough shots towards their net.”
Logan led the way for the North Stars on offence Saturday as he scored a goal and had an assist.
Connor Sych and Keaton Holinaty also had power play goals, while Cody Spargud had an even-strength marker in the third period of play.
“Everyone was touching the puck and that was the most important thing for us on the power play,” North Stars head coach and general manager Nate Bedford said.
“If we can do that on a regular basis, that makes it really hard for the other team to try and key on who they think is going to shoot the puck.”
Taryn Kotchorek had a 23-save performance in the win, with his only blemish coming on a breakaway goal by Connor MacLean in the second period.
Benjamin Patt was outstanding in the loss for the Hounds, who have a 24-22-6-2 record and are tied for sixth in the SJHL standings with the Weyburn Red Wings, as he turned aside 39 shots.
“Other than Ben, who was great for us once again, we weren’t good overall anywhere really,” Hounds head coach and general manager Clint Mylymok said. “We weren’t good on defence and we had poor use of our sticks, which will cost you against a good team like the North Stars.
“We had a really simple game plan where the goal was to not try and do too much out there, but we had guys that weren’t doing that for whatever reason.”
The North Stars, who have already wrapped up the first seed for the playoffs and have a 46-9-0-1 record, are off until Friday night when they will go on the road to play the Kindersley Klippers.
The two teams will then play at the Civic Centre Saturday at 7:30 p.m. in the final game of the regular season for the North Stars.
“Those last two games will be about fine-tuning things heading into the playoffs,” Logan said.
“Kindersley will be in the same boat as well, but will need to stay sharp and do things the right way so we don’t get into any bad habits.”
On the health front, the North Stars were without the services of Kendall Fransoo and Ben Allen Saturday.
Fransoo, who suffered a knee injury after a hit Tate Page of the Klippers Wednesday night, is expected to be out of action for a couple of weeks but will be reexamined on Tuesday to get a second opinion on his condition.
Allen, who left Friday’s game after a centre-ice blindside hit from Brett Harasymuk of the Hawks, will be examined by a doctor on Monday.
