Stars bounce back to take 2-1 series lead in Melfort

Charging in on the forecheck, all three of Kaden Boser, Dayton Heino, and Regan Doig converged into the Melfort zone, with the three coming together to lay into Mustangs’ forward, George King, who was holding the puck on the right-side boards.

Sandwiching their man from three different angles simultaneously, as if they were the Hanson Brothers themselves, King skated off the ice after receiving the collision, with the forward heading straight into the dressing room following the play, not to return on the night.

On a scoring front, Mustangs’ forward, Tyson Meyers opened the scoring just under seven minutes into the first period, tallying his second of the series, and of the postseason as a whole, to deliver his team the early 1-0 lead on home ice.

Austin Becker tied the score before the end of first, notching his second as well, just as the Stars’ first power play expired, as the forward deposited a gorgeous passing play from Owen Lamb to find the diminutive Becker lurking in weeds at the side of the goal to knot the score, 1-1.

Entering the second period with a 19-8 shot advantage, the North Stars would break through with the go-ahead goal courtesy of Regan Doig, just under half-way through the middle frame, scoring off a tenacious forecheck.

After Ryan Gil made the initial play to hold the puck in the zone, and get the puck to MacGregor Sinclair, Sinclair then found Doig out front, dishing the Olds, Alta., product a pass for the winger to bang home.

For Doig, the goal served as his first of the playoffs, making it 2-1 Stars to give the team their first lead of the night.

After Justin Ball pulled Melfort even at 2-2 on a power play marker coming off a laser from the high slot, Braydon Buziak would again set his team ahead, this time for good, at 3-2, with just 15.1 seconds to go in the second.

In the third, Quintin Loon-Stewardson scored his team-leading eighth of the playoffs to give the Battlefords an insurance marker, as the rookie continued his torrent scoring pace with a highlight reel deke move to reach around the goalie from in tight and tuck the puck home. At 4-2, Loon-Stewardson’s tally served as the final scoring play of the game.

Stars’ goalie, Joel Grzybowski stopped 29 of the 31 shots sent his way on the night, including several of the highlight-reel variety throughout the back-half of the third with Melfort pushing for the tie.

Likely his best save of the night, Grzybowski’s shining moment came off a bit of a broken play, when Melfort forward, Zach Anderson had his blocked shot land right at the side of the crease for teammate Colin Schmidt.

With eyes like saucers, Schmidt showed zero hesitation, pouncing at the opportunity to fire the puck into the wide-open net – except that just as the puck was about to cross the goal line, Grzybowski somehow stole the frozen rubber disk right out of mid-air in his glove. Robbing the stunned forward, Schmidt and his teammates alike, could do nothing but look to the rafters in disbelief.

At the other end, Shawn Parkinson made 21 saves on 23 shots until, with about seven and-a-half minutes left in the second period, when battling out of the goal crease to smother a loose puck, Parkinson got bumped by a Stars’ forward in the head-area, and did not return.

Noah Giesbrecht, who has played the bulk of the minutes for the Mustangs on their playoff run, stopped six of eight shots in relief.

Game 4 of the Finals’ series will take place Wed., Apr. 17, once again at Northern Lights Palace. The Ultra Print Pregame Show will begin at 7 p.m. with puck drop at 7:30 p.m. on 1050 CJNB.

Scoring summary

First period:

6:49 MLF Tyson Meyers (2) ASST: Justin Ball (11)

14:45 BAT Austin Becker (2) ASST: Owen Lamb (8), Seth Summers (6)