Spencer Bast had a goal and two assists, including the eventual game winner, as the Battlefords Stars edged the Notre Dame Argos 4-3 in game two of the SMAAAHL final Monday night.
Bast has picked up nine goals and 11 assists through eight playoff games.
The best-of-five series is tied 1-1.
The Stars and the Argos traded possession of the puck for the first four minutes, but neither team registered a shot on net. Argos forward Damien Riat had the best chance to open the scoring early in the game when he pounced on a turnover and wired a shot off the post behind North Stars goaltender Rylan Toth's blocker.
Toth made another nice save midway through the period. Colin Burston centred the puck for Evan Werle, but the Stars goaltender slid across and made the save with his chest.
Battlefords best chance of the period came when Josh LaFramboise cut around Argos defenceman Nolan Reid to the front of the net. LaFramboise got his shot off, but missed the net wide of the right post.
Notre Dame got on the board first 3:43 into the second. Riat made up for hitting the post earlier by ripping a slap shot over Toth's blocker to make it 1-0.
Shortly after, Stars defenceman Connor Manegre turned the puck over to Argos forward Gage Ramsay in the Stars' zone. Ramsay slid it over to Reid, but Toth gloved Reid's shot.
The Stars tied the game seven minutes into the period. Bast set up LaFramboise as he crossed the blue line. LaFramboise had a step on the Argos' defence, deked to his forehand and banked the puck past Argos goalie Matt Kustra for his eighth goal of the playoffs.
Notre Dame had a chance while they were killing a penalty. Taylor Ross and Kaden Elder broke in shorthanded on a two-on-one. Ross kept the puck, but fanned on the shot as it slid to the end boards.
Seconds after a Argos penalty for slashing ended, Battlefords took the lead. Layne Young had the puck in the corner as the penalty expired. He centred it for Brandon Lesko, who redirected it past Kustra to make it 2-1 with 7:07 remaining.
Later in the second, the Stars capitalized early on a Ross penalty for tripping. Bast had the puck at the right post and threw it across the crease. Josh Bly was on the other post and tapped it in to give Battlefords a 3-1 lead with 3:19 left in the period.
The Argos responded with a power-play goal of their own. With Michael Korol in the box for hooking, Kustra sent a pass the length of the ice to Werle during a Stars' line change. Werle held the puck and waited for traffic to develop in front of the Stars' net. His slapshot found its way through the crowd and got by a screened Toth to cut the lead to one with 2:09 to play in the second.
After time expired in the second period, Makai Holdener took a slashing penalty as a Stars player skated behind the net. Battlefords jumped on the opportunity 54 seconds into the third. Bast redirected Mason Benning's shot in front of the net past Kustra to put the Stars up two.
Manegere put the Argos on the power play after taking a four-minute penalty for head contact. On the power play, Dillon Dube was set up on a partial breakaway, but Toth made a glove save. The Stars killed off the double minor.
LaFramboise had a shorthanded rush during another Battlefords penalty. He dragged the puck around Reid and cut back across the face of the net. However, LaFramboise was hauled down by Reid before the Stars' forward was able to get a clean shot away.
The Argos ramped up the pressure in the final two minutes. With Kustra on the bench for the extra attacker, Notre Dame had multiple chances on net. After a scramble in front of the net, the puck slid back to Werle. He beat Toth with another slapshot to make it 4-3 with 45.8 seconds left in the game.
Battlefords held on for the rest of the period, clearing the zone and tying the puck up in the corner for the final seconds.
Toth made 33 saves to tie the series for the Stars. Kustra stopped 29 shots to pick up the loss for the Argos.
Game three of the series is Wednesday night in Wilcox.
