(Mat Barrett/northeastNOW Staff)

By Mat Barrett

Overtime Magic

Mustangs ‘Hunt’ down Bruins, take game three in overtime

Mar 11, 2020 | 8:57 AM

The first overtime game of the 2020 Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) playoffs was on Tuesday. The Melfort Mustangs defeated the Estevan Bruins 2-1 in overtime in game three of their quarter-final series to take a 2-1 series lead.

Mustangs Assistant Coach Trevor Logan said they got better as the game went on.

“I didn’t think we were heavy enough in the first period, didn’t get a lot of action around the net,” Logan said. “Then we got into some penalty trouble and powerplay time and penalty kill time, so not everybody was going, we had some guys sitting for a length of time. So once we got into the third I thought we were able to roll four lines, and even into overtime we were able to roll three, four lines through that as well.”

The first goal of the contest didn’t come until over two minutes remained in the second period as Jayden Davis finished off a nice transition play to beat Mustang netminder Shawn Parkinson on the back hand. It was the third straight game Melfort has given up the first goal, but that’s not something that concerns Logan.

“We’re a pretty confident group in the fact that we can chisel some in when we need to, and we can manage our bench a little bit to put some guys out there,” he said. “I think a big part is that we just want to stay close and tight in games, give ourselves a chance because we think Parkinson can make the saves when we need to and when we have to we’ll force a bit.”

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Melfort was behind 1-0 until just over four minutes remained in the third when Adam Nobes was able to feed Vaclav Prospal in the left wing circle. Prospal wrist shot went bardown on Keenan Rancier tie the game at 1-1. The Mustangs would press late, but couldn’t get one to go, leading things to overtime.

In overtime, Melfort dominated from the get go, outshooting the Bruins 14-4 in the period, and ultimately 42-28 overall. The Mustangs even hit a post in the overtime period when Nolan Kadachuk rang one off the iron. But things broke free for the visitors as Prospal got the loose puck along the left wing, and with all the Bruins watching Prospal, Andrew Hunt snuck back door and got gathered the pass and roofed one on Rancier to win it for the Mustangs.

Game four of the series goes back in Estevan on Wednesday, March 11.

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mat.barrett@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @matbarrett6