The Portage Terriers bounced back on Wednesday night, beating the Niverville Nighthawks 3-1 at Stride Place.
The active military personnel and veterans who were in attendance for Military Appreciation Night had plenty to cheer about in the first period. The team looked strong scoring midway through the first on the power play. Nathan Lenoski was left alone at the side of the net and tapped in a perfect pass from Austin McLean. Cam Bullinger then scored his first of the night less than three minutes later to make it 2-0 Terriers after one.
Bullinger came out hot again in the second period and scored on the power play in the first minute to make it 3-0. Thoughts of Friday night’s 3-0 Terrier lead that evaporated against the Nighthawks crept into the minds of Terrier fans when they looked up at the scoreboard.
Similar to Friday, the Nighthawks didn’t give up. Brendan Bottem scored their first goal of the game early in the third period. Portage looked to make it 4-1 but the goal was disallowed due to a high stick. Terrier goalie Jayden Catellier made some big saves as Niverville poured 17 shots on net in the third. Portage was able to hold off the pressure and pick up the two points.
“This is a good team that we played against tonight. The last one slipped away from us, so we wanted to have a good 60-minutes,” says Catellier. “I felt like I was seeing shots well and was dialed in. It was good to have a game like that as a confidence booster.”
Bullinger says he was glad to grab the win and looks forward to the weekend. “It feels awesome, I thought we played really hard. We don’t want to look past Winnipeg, we want to start off the weekend right.”
Portage finished the night 2/4 on the power play and a perfect 6/6 on the penalty kill. The win gives the team a 10-4-4 record and with the two points the jumped past the Nighthawks in the standings and are now third in the division. Only 5 points separates the top six teams in the league to this point of the season.
The Terriers are now off until Saturday when they head to Winnipeg to play the Blues. Their next home game is Sunday against Steinbach.
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