(Mat Barrett/northeastNOW Staff)

By Mat Barrett

Mustangs Playoffs

Strong second period propels Mustangs to game 1 win

Mar 30, 2019 | 10:33 AM

The Melfort Mustangs held serve on home ice in the first games of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) semi-finals.

On Friday, March 29, the Mustangs got down early, but fought back to get a 6-2 win over the Estevan Bruins as they opened up the SJHL semi-finals.

In the first period, the Mustangs were playing well early, but a lengthy penalty kill that lasted almost six minutes, somewhat took the air out of the Mustangs. That gave the Bruins a bit of life as the Bruins were pressing pretty well and it led to Turner Ripplinger being left all alone in front as he beat Mustang goalie Noah Giesbrecht for a 1-0 Estevan lead.

The Bruins extended their lead in the second when a Devan Harrison shot was tipped by Bryce Platt, making it 2-0 Bruins.

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With about 14 minutes to play, the Mustangs seemed to get a spark, and it could have been because Zach Anderson was put on a line with Kenzie Arnold and Colin Schmidt. That line began to fly in the second as Arnold scored just before the halfway point to make it 2-1. That was followed by Zach Anderson notching his first of the playoffs to tie things up. Arnold added two more goals late in the frame and all of a sudden, it was 4-2 Mustangs after two periods of play.

Melfort continued that pressure in the third period as Estevan could not seem to get any sustained pressure in the Mustangs zone, but when they did, Noah Giesbrecht stood tall in net. Carson Albrecht scored with about 8 minutes to play in the game to extend the lead to 5-2, and then he would add an empty netter with less than a minute left to put the final dagger in the Bruins for a 6-2 win.

Giesbrecht was solid for the Mustangs, stopping 25 of 27 shots in the win. His counter part Grant Boldt stopped 27 in the loss.

Game 2 of the series goes back in Melfort on Saturday, March 30.

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mat.barrett@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @matbarrett6