The Richardson Pioneer Weyburn Red Wings got back into the win column Saturday night, and Ty Matonovich picked up his third straight win in goal, as they closed out their northern road swing with a 5-3 win over the La Ronge Ice Wolves.
"I thought they did a really good job to kind of reset from the last week or so," head coach Cody Mapes said of the performance from the players. "I thought today was a big step in the right direction. They executed a lot of things that we've talked about that we haven't done over the last week or so, so it was good to see them kind of take the bull by the horns and do that."
The Red Wings would be the first to get on the board when Jerome Maharaj scored his 13th of the season with 7:28 remaining in the first period. Defenseman Josh Karman had the assist on the goal.
La Ronge would answer back early in the second period as Alex Mack beat Matonovich with a shorthanded goal. The Red Wings, though, weren't going to let a repeat of Friday happen.
At the 6:11 mark of the second Braigh LeGrandeur netted his 8th goal of the season with Simon Martin getting the assist. Then, Ryder Rommelaere scored his fifth at 7:23, with Drew Molde and Matthew Edwards assisting.
The Red Wings carried the 3-1 lead into the third period when Matthew Edwards scored his third goal of the season at 1:14. Liam Fitzgerald and Karman had the assists on the goal, which would stand as the game-winner.
Not only was it the third goal of the season for Edwards, but he scored all three goals on the road trip, and all three came on the power play.
"The confidence is going up," Edwards said after the game. "Last few games, I'm getting my puck touches there. I'm going to keep trying to play my best, and confidence is going up, so I'm excited."
"I think he's starting to find his offensive stride here a little bit like he had when he was a little younger," Mapes commented on Edwards' performance as of late. "We're excited. He's a big body, he's tough to handle. He's not really a guy that guys want to try to push around on the power play."
Edwards would then find himself finishing the night with a Gordie Howe hat trick at 9:14 in the third period. He dropped the gloves with La Ronge's Tyson Matthews. Both players would be assessed 5-minute majors for fighting and a game misconduct.
La Ronge would bite into the lead with 9:12 remaining when they scored a power play goal of their own as Taite Donkin beat Matonovich. Then, it would become a one-goal lead as Nathan Da Silva scored with 2:05 to play.
Just under 60 seconds later, though Luke Schraeder finished the game off for the Red Wings with an unassisted empty net goal to make it 5-3.
The Red Wings now get a brief respite from the road, before heading back north for a pair of games leading into next weekend. They will play the Melfort Mustangs on Thursday, and the Nipawin Hawks on Friday.
"I love that we get to see Melfort twice in a week or so here," Mapes said. "We obviously got to see how good they were, how good their power play is anyway, on Wednesday night. We got to go and get a few things fixed up. We're looking forward to that road trip. We're looking forward to a few days of practice and getting some of these habits back to where they should be."