(Mat Barrett/northeastNOW Staff)

By Mat Barrett

Southern Sweep

Mustangs defeat Red Wings to complete southern road trip

Oct 20, 2019 | 8:58 AM

Call it a ‘southern sweep’ for the Melfort Mustangs.

On Saturday, Oct. 19, the Mustangs defeated the Weyburn Red Wings 3-2 just one night after beating the Estevan Bruins 5-4, both on the road.

Melfort outshot Weyburn 41-24 in the game, but the road club battled and got the win.

“Pretty proud of how everyone stuck with it and contributed all the way through the lineup,” said Head Coach Trevor Blevins. “Everyone dug deep and worked hard in a tough rink.”

Saturday’s game, unlike Friday, saw the Mustangs open the scoring. This one came shorthanded, because of course it did as Melfort scores the most shorthanded markers in the league by a wide margin. This was their fifth and it came from Ryley Lanthier who broke up a play at centre and fought off a Red Wing before flipping it over a sprawling Joseph Young. However, on that same Weyburn powerplay, Daytona Houle got his first of the year to tie the game up 1-1. Melfort spent most of the period in the offensive zone aside from that powerplay and a few minor stretches.

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In the second, the Red Wings seemed to have a bit more jump, and it showed early as Rhett Frey drove wide and roofed a backhand over the shoulder of Shawn Parkinson to give Weyburn their first lead of the game. Melfort’s response came almost 13 minutes later at the 15:15 mark on a powerplay as the puck got worked around and found Nolan Kadachuk in the circle for a one-timer to tie things back up 2-2. Blevins said in the second, he thought there were a few things he’d like to fix.

“Second period, I thought we had a couple of breakdowns,” he said. “But [Shawn Parkinson] made a couple great saves in the second to keep it at bay for us and give us a chance.”

Melfort still managed to outshoot Weyburn 17-10 in the period.

Meanwhile, in the third, Melfort continued their dominance. They outshot Weyburn 15-7, and most of the 7 Red Wing shots came late in the period. Melfort got the go-ahead goal at the 9:25 mark as Greg Parker did a great job of holding the puck inside the zone. He walked across to the high slot and unleashed a wrist shot that beat Young. Melfort weathered the storm late and came away with the win.

It’s the Mustangs 13th straight game without a regulation loss and they improve to 10-2-2-1 on the season. Melfort is back in action on Tuesday as they visit Yorkton.

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mat.barrett@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @matbarrett6