A night after coughing up a lead in the third period to the Kindersley Klippers, the Battlefords North Stars made sure that wasn’t an issue Wednesday evening.
Although the host Melfort Mustangs clawed back from a 4-0 deficit to get within a goal in the second frame, the North Stars scored three times in the final 20 minutes as they came away with a 7-3 triumph at the Northern Lights Palace.
“I couldn’t be happier with the way the guys bounced back after what happened in the third against Kindersley,” North Stars general manager and head coach Brandon Heck said. “It was a complete effort from start to finish and the guys bought in to the way we wanted them to play.
“In the second period, we stopped pressuring Melfort and getting in their face. We’re not a team that traps. We want to play hard, play quick and force turnovers. We need to make sure that we don’t step off the gas and keep pushing, especially against a team like Melfort that has a lot of skill.”
Cole Johnson turned in his most impressive performance to date since being acquired from Alberta Junior Hockey League’s Lloydminster Bobcats earlier this month, as the 19-year-old from Marwayne, Alta. had three goals and two assists to lead the way on offence.
“He’s been even better than we expected,” Heck said. “He’s brought the secondary scoring that we were looking for when we made that trade.
“Teams now have to decide who they want to put their top defensive pairing against. They have to matchup against his line or [Layne] Young’s line.”
Chaseton Braid had a goal and two assists in the win, which also saw Keith Anderson, Levi Kleiboer and MacGregor Sinclair find the back of the net.
Joel Grzybowski made 25 saves for the visitors, who improved their record to 31-7-2-0 for the season.
The Mustangs, who have a 28-9-4-1 record to sit third in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League standings and are just three points back of the North Stars in the league table, were led on offence by a goal and two assists from Reed Gunville.
Tristen Elder had a goal and an assist in the loss and Colin Schmidt also lit the lamp.
Goaltender Evan Plotnik was pulled after giving up seven goals on 24 shots in 46 minutes of work, with backup Hunter Arps turning making two saves over the final 13 minutes.
Wednesday’s win marked the conclusion of a seven-game road trip for the North Stars that saw them post a 5-2 record and increase their lead over the Notre Dame Hounds for first place in the Global Ag Risk Solutions Division to 12 points.
“We feel like we should have gone have 7-0 though as we blew a pair of two-goal leads in our losses to Flin Flon and Kindersley,” Heck said.
“We strive for being at an elite level of play, and while you aren’t going to argue about winning five games away from home, we feel like we let some points on the table.”
The North Stars will return to the Civic Centre Friday to play the Nipawin Hawks at 7:30 p.m., in a contest that will see the top two teams in the SJHL going head-to-head for the third time this year.
They will then travel to Spiritwood on Saturday night for a neutral site game against the La Ronge Ice Wolves.
