(Mat Barrett/northeastNOW Staff)

By Mat Barrett

Mustangs Defeat Hawks

Mustangs defeat Hawks in first half of Christmas home and home

Dec 21, 2019 | 8:51 AM

The Melfort Mustangs struck first blood on Friday in the first half of the home and home with the Nipawin Hawks.

Just as it was on Oct. 25 in Melfort, the Mustangs beat the Hawks 5-2.

The win comes a week after the Mustangs only managed three goals over their southern road swing against Estevan and Weyburn. Head Coach Trevor Blevins said his forwards had a bit more edge.

“I liked just about all the forwards for sure at times,” he said. “And we had some pressure and looked confident with the puck and it was good to see. I just think we had a lot of compete in our game for the most part in that regard.”

The Mustangs opened the scoring on a powerplay, just 3:40 into the game as Tyson Meyers tipped in a Nolan Kadachuk point shot. However, Nipawin got it back about five minutes later as Michael Makarenko score from basically the goal line to make it 1-1.

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Melfort pulled ahead in period number two as Ben Tkachuk scored just over three minutes in and Adam Nobes scored on to make it 3-1 at the 5:21 mark. The back half of the second was highted by a handful of penalties as well as the referees seemed to be calling everything, however, no goals were scored on either side.

Christian Albertson scored just over two minutes into the third to make it 4-1 Melfort, but Michael Makarenko’s second brought the lead back to two. The Hawks pressed late, but the Mustangs were able to weather the storm as Kenzie Arnold’s empty netter made it 5-2, which was the final dagger.

While the Mustangs only allowed two goals in the contest, Blevins said they were a bit sloppy and were bailed out by Shawn Parkinson who stopped 23 in the win.

“Parky was great tonight for sure,” Blevins said. “We mismanaged some pucks in our zone that didn’t need to happen and he came up big. We have to make sure we sharpen that up for tomorrow.”

The rivals meet again on Saturday in Nipawin before the teams break for Christmas.

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mat.barrett@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @matbarrett6