The Estevan Power Tech midget AA Panthers relied on a solid team effort to beat the Notre Dame Hounds 3-1 at the Civic Auditorium on Friday, but the team’s lack of execution still leaves something to be desired.
“We’re just shooting the puck,” said Panthers head coach Trevor Morrison. “We’re not shooting to score. We had some opportunities there that we need to bear down and have a look at and make sure we shoot a goal scorer’s shot instead of just shooting the puck. Tonight was a little frustrating because we should have had a good sized lead with the effort we put in.”
The Panthers (9-2-1) got on the Hounds two minutes into the first period courtesy of a Kenzie Balon shot that pinged off the post and in. The club didn’t let up after the marker with all three forward lines and two defence pairings buzzing the Hounds zone with Panthers forward Kelsey Pastachak notching the 2-0 goal a little over eight minutes later by jamming in a deflected pass out front that lay open in Sawyer Duncan’s crease.
The constant pressure forced the Hounds (3-7-3) into penalty trouble in the middle frame resulting in the Panthers enjoying a lengthy five-on-three advantage seven minutes in, but unlike the team’s work even-strength they couldn’t seem to generate any shots. Shortly after the penalty kill, the Hounds received their own two-man advantage only to have the Panthers eliminate any possible attack with short-handed specialist Marci LeBlanc earning the best opportunity with hard work along the side boards to stop an attempted rush before driving the puck to the net.
“The (penalty kill) is working because we’re pressuring and everybody is working hard and it’s the exact same reason, flip-flop, why we’re not doing so well on the power play,” noted the Panthers coach. “We get a power play and we take it easy instead of working hard, so we need to start working hard on our power play and then we’ll start scoring some goals.”
The Panthers continued to dominate in the third period, but it was the Hounds that would strike first with Breanna Bryant-Nelson deking past the defence before wiring the puck top corner glove side on Estevan netminder Ayja Hegland. Panthers centre Karli Colpitts got the marker back with an empty netter at the 19:26 mark to bring the score to 3-1.
“That’s five good games in a row now where we’ve had good team efforts, so we’re in the right track,” said Morrison. “We just need to start bearing down on some chances. We’re working hard and getting the opportunities. We just need to finish.”
