Blues fall to Pistons for the second year in a row

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This article was published 18/03/2019 (2628 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Everybody knows the odds of coming back to win a best-of-seven series when trailing three games to none are astronomical.

But to the credit of the Winnipeg Blues, they made it seem possible they could pull it off.

After losing the first three games of their first-round Manitoba Junior Hockey League playoff series against the No. 3 seed Steinbach Pistons, the sixth-seeded Blues marched back to win Games 4 and 5.

The Blues had a chance to make things real interesting on Monday night at Bell MTS Iceplex in Game 6, and they did, but not in the way they had hoped for. In a thrilling double-overtime classic, it was the Pistons who prevailed with a 4-3 win, putting an end to the Blues’ comeback attempt.

Steinbach’s Jack Kilroy played the role of the hero as he scored the series winner 10:24 into the fifth period.

“We definitely wanted to get that done today,” Pistons head coach Paul Dyck said. “I think we were running short on energy and that’s a tough team to play against. They make you earn your ice constantly. Tonight, they were playing with a lot of confidence. I thought the longer this played out, it probably played into their hands a little more.”

The Blues opened the scoring in the first period when the team’s leading scorer, Tony Apetagon, was left alone in front of the net and put one past Steinbach goalie Matthew Radomsky 11:40 into the game. Before the Blues could head into the locker room with the lead, Pistons forward Tyson McConnell scored his third goal of the series to tie the game with only 15 seconds left in the opening frame.

Apetagon went back to work in the second period, tipping in a Riley Cusack slapshot at 7:28 to regain the lead. Steinbach answered as Kyle Bettens, with a defender on his back and one hand on his stick, slipped a puck between Jeremy Link’s pads to make it a 2-2 game heading into the third.

The Pistons got their first lead of the game in the third period, as Brendan Martin battled in front of the net to make it a 3-2 game for Steinbach only two minutes into the third. With just over eight minutes remaining in the period, the Blues made several impressive plays to keep the puck in enemy territory, before they were finally rewarded by Sullivan Shortreed getting a piece of a Darren Gisti shot from the point to even the score at 3-3.

The first overtime solved nothing, despite the Blues having a power-play opportunity. Steinbach’s Troy Beauchemin made the Blues pay for the missed opportunity, as in the next overtime, he found Kilroy for the winner.

Both goalies, Radomsky and Link, made 39 saves.

“The fourth (win) is the hardest,” Dyck said.

“We discussed it a fair amount, that how difficult this was going to be, not only when we were up 3-0, but prior to the series.

“That fourth win is tough. We knew that they were really built for this moment. We had to earn it, there’s no question about it.”

It’s the second year in a row the Pistons have eliminated the Blues in the playoffs. Last year, Steinbach defeated Winnipeg in six games in the semifinal en route to winning the league championship.

The Pistons will advance to the semifinal and take on the No. 2 seed Swan Valley Stampeders.

The fifth-seeded Virden Oil Capitals will play the top-ranked Portage Terriers in the other semifinal.

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.caTwitter: @TaylorAllen31