(Mat Barrett/northeastNOW Staff)

By Mat Barrett

Mustangs Playoffs

Wild first period leads Mustangs to massive game five win

Apr 6, 2019 | 1:31 PM

Game five of the SJHL semi-final between the Melfort Mustangs and Estevan Bruins lived up to the hype on Friday.

At the Northern Lights Palace in Melfort, the Mustangs finally opened the scoring in the series and were able to come away with a 4-1 win to take a 3-2 series lead.

That Mustang goal to open the scoring came at the 10:10 mark of the first after a broken play left Colton Schell alone in front to make it 1-0. The Mustang lead only lasted 11 seconds as Isaiah Thomas capitalized on a turnover and tied it up for his first goal of the playoffs. The Bruins began out playing the Mustangs for a portion of the period after that, but a four minute spearing penalty on Bruin power forward Bryce Platt turned things around for the Mustangs.

Just 14 seconds into the powerplay, the Mustangs big guns struck as Tanner Zentner picked up a rebound and made it 2-1. Things kept rolling on the man advantage for Melfort as just 31 seconds after the first goal, captain Carson Albrecht scored to make it 3-1. Thats how things would stay until the end of the first.

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Head Coach Trevor Blevins said they were giving the puck up a bit too much in the first.

“It was a much better effort [tonight],” Blevins said. “For some reason, we just looked a little bit shaky or it took a little bit to get our confidence. The effort was there. We just got managing the puck better a lot better in the second and third and did a great job really locking it down in the second and third.”

The second period led to no score, but the Bruins had chances, including a breakaway chance by Michael McChesney that was stopped by Noah Giesbrecht. Estevan outshot the Mustangs 10-9.

In the third, the Bruins began playing desperate and were firing everything at the Mustangs. Melfort stood tall and blocked a tonne of shots, only allowing 10 recorded in the period. A Carson Albrecht empty net goal sealed the deal.

“I don’t know if that was our sharpest game of the year,” Blevins said. “Definitely wasn’t the worst but you find ways to win at this time of year it really doesn’t matter how sometimes, you just get it done.”

For the Mustangs, Noah Giesbrecht stopped 32 of 33 shots, and Carson Albrecht notched three points.

Game six of the series goes in Estevan on Sunday, April 7.

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mat.barrett@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @matbarrett6