Stars’ forward Brett Gammer scored the game-winner Tuesday night in Game three, as the Stars took home a 1-0 victory on the forward’s third of the playoffs. (Martin Martinson/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By Martin Martinson

Just one win from Finals

Stars can sweep series with win over Terriers tonight

Apr 3, 2019 | 2:00 PM

The Battlefords North Stars will play game four of their semifinal playoff series tonight against the Yorkton Terriers at Farrell Agencies Arena in Yorkton.

Holding a 3-0 lead in their best-of-seven series with the Terriers, the Stars can wrap up the series, and punch their ticket to the league finals tonight with a win.

The North Stars have done a tremendous job of shutting down the top-ranked Yorkton offense through the first three games of the series, keeping a team that boasts a league-best six 50-plus point scorers, including four players with at least 65-plus points, to just two goals total through the first three games of the series.

The Terriers’ have not scored over the last two games total, while Stars’ goalie, Joel Grzybowski has been perfect, stopping 70-straight Yorkton shots en route to carrying a 138-minute streak of shutout hockey into game four Wednesday.

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Grzybowski has posted a 1.52 goals-against average and .956 save percentage this postseason, each tops in the league amongst starting goalies.

On the backend, the Stars’ defense core, led by captain Cody Spagrud, has been integral to their team’s stingy defensive front as well. Spagrud and Noah Form on the team’s top pair, have provided all-but mistake-free hockey, while logging huge minutes against each of the top two Terriers’ lines.

Whichever of the Terriers’ Petruic or Klatt unit does not draw Spagrud, Form, draws instead the tandem of Matthew Fletcher and Seth Summers.

Fletcher and Summers have proven in their own right, to be amongst the premier shutdown tandems in the league, offering next-to-no time and space for the offensive juggernauts of the Terriers to make the crafty offensive plays they are used to making.

Austin Shumanski and Ryan Granville on the Stars’ third pairing offer a third dependable unit to deploy against the opposition, with Granville’s skating and puck movement playing the perfect complement to Shumanski’s big-body play and abrasive physical style.

Offensively, with back-to-back 1-0 wins in games 2 and 3, the Battlefords have broken through with a goal when needed in this series.

Rookie Quintin Loon-Stewardson scored his fifth of the playoffs Saturday in overtime to win the game 1-0 for his team, before fellow first-year Brett Gammer scored in the first period Tuesday in game three, a goal that would also stand alone as the difference by night’s end.

Terriers’ goalie, Ryan Oullette, has been lights out for his team as this series has gone along, keeping Yorkton in each of the last two games right to the final horn.

After stopping 37/43 shots in Game 1 with not a lot of support, the Colorado, CO., product has been nearly perfect since, stopping 41/42 in game two and 40/41 in Game three.

The Terriers will likely need another big performance from their young netminder tonight, along with some further offensive support, for the team to force a game five back in the Battlefords, and preserve their postseason.

The Terriers have not made any key changes to their lineup so far, but may opt to tonight, as their season now hangs in the balance.

The Ultra Print Pregame Show will begin at 7 p.m. with puck drop at 7:30 p.m. on NAPA North Stars Hockey on 1050 CJNB. Marty Martinson will have the call.

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Martin.Martinson@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: MartyMartyPxP1