By Nathan Kanter

North Stars go 3-for-3 on southern road swing

Jan 9, 2017 | 12:16 AM

Ben Allen scored a key insurance marker, Layne Young notched his 50th point of the season, and Coby Downs added two helpers as the North Stars top line was solid once more in Sunday’s 5-2 win over the Notre Dame Hounds.

But the game was closer than 5-2, as it was only 3-2 halfway through the third. Allen made it 4-2 and Delainey would add an empty netter.

“They played a gritty game,” North Stars head coach nate Bedford said after the team’s sixth straight win. “They came at us and made it tough on us just like most teams do these days and we’re going to have to get used to it. People want to beat us and they want to end streaks and they want to be our eighth loss and I think we found a way to just kind of persevere when they did get it closer.”

Young’s point streak is now at 13 games, during which he has scored 7 goals and added 16 assists for 23 points. Downs’ point streak is now at 10 games, with the California native having posted four goals and 14 assists during that span. Allen, meanwhile, has five points in his last four.

“The best thing about Younger is if you told him he’s on a 13-game point streak, he would have no idea,” Bedford said. “That’s the best part about him. He’s very selfless and nothing’s about him, it’s all about the team.

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“Downs is a guy that wants to do everything right… [and] he might be on a 10-game point streak here but he’s getting better and better playing well defensively for us. Really at the end of the day you can’t ask for much more.”

That top line, however, was not the only unit to produce on Sunday, as Connor Logan scored his first goal in six games, and Reed Delainey buried his ninth and tenth goals of the season, the first of which was a well placed shot from the slot top corner on a man advantage.

The win was the team’s third in three nights to kick off 2017, after they snagged wins in Estevan on Friday and Weyburn on Saturday.

“We said all along that we weren’t going to worry about three games in three nights,” Bedford said. “I’m sure we’re going to have a situation in the playoffs where we’ll have to do the same thing.”

Goaltender Taryn Kotchorek stopped 18 of 20 shots on Sunday for his 18th win of the season. His record now stands at 18-2 with a 1.92 goals-against-average and .923 save percentage.

The Hounds had some life in the third period after Jamer Piller made it a one goal game with nine minutes remaining. But Kotchorek shut the door the rest of the way, which led to Allen restoring the team’s two-goal lead.

“You look at shots on goal and think oh, ‘Anybody could play net for the North Stars,’ and that’s certainly not the case,” Bedford said. “It’s really tough to play goal on our team. When we make mistakes, they’re huge.

“This game could have gotten out of control had Kotchroek not been good and same thing with yesterday – Gryzbowski was good yesterday.”

The North Stars are now 33-7-0 through 40 games, with a 12-point lead on first place and a 21-point lead on the division.

“We’re rolling and guys really believe that this is the year,” Bedford said. “These guys are having fun winning right now, I’m having fun being a part of it, we’ve got a great organization, [and] we’ve got good fans.”

Battlefords will host the Weyburn Red Wings for two back-to-back games this upcoming weekend, on Friday and Saturday at the Civic Centre.

Puck drop is scheduled for 7:30 p.m in both.