It was a complete 60-minute effort by everyone wearing blue and white as the Steinbach Pistons survived their first game facing elimination, defeating the Portage Terriers 3-1 on Saturday night.
It was an electric atmosphere inside the Southeast Event Centre. A packed house, a live performance by "The Villains" and a wonderful moment for Special Olympics medalist athlete Will Middleton, who dropped the puck along side Mayor Earl Funk, had positive energy reverberating around the spectacular facility.
The Pistons did their part to keep the good vibes high.
From the moment the puck dropped, the Pistons were engaged, using their speed, playing physical and structured.
Forcing Portage at every turn, Steinbach earned the majority of the chances and piled up the shots on goal.
After building momentum throughout the first half of the opening period, they were rewarded with the first goal of the game.
Ty Paisley started it all off by bringing the puck into the zone and with help from Zhenya Miles, it turned into a three-on-two rush. Paisley's pass was fumbled and the forward alertly kicked it down below the net where Jamie Fuchs and Sam Noad were outworking their defenders.
Miles stayed in the play and after the puck was freed up, moved it to the blueline where Shane Burns was stationed. Burns alertly fed it back down to Miles who had all kinds of traffic in front thanks to the work of Noad, Fuchs and Paisley. Miles hesitated and as he did, Paisley separated himself from the pile, took the pass from Miles and made no mistake, scoring his 2nd of the playoffs, making it a 1-0 Pistons lead.
Two shifts later, the trio of Cole Cairns, Ryan McDonald and Brayden Barnett went to work.
The three forwards were incredible all game long, using their speed and tenacious forecheck to make the lives of the Terriers miserable in their own zone. All that work would pay off with the second goal of the night.
After all three of Barnett, McDonald and Cairns had great chances in front, the three-headed beast of a line kept the puck alive with it eventually finding Miles at the point.
This time, Miles did not pass. He sent a perfect rocket of a shot top shelf and celebrated his first playoff goal as a Piston. Barnett and McDonald were given credit for the assists but Cairns was also crucial in that goal happening.
Shots were 21-5 for Steinbach and while Christian Green wasn't overly tested, he did make a timely save to keep his team up 2-0 after the first period.
In the second, things leveled out a bit and Steinbach continued to play near perfect hockey. Keeping the Terriers from gaining any momentum throughout the middle frame.
When they did, Matt Munro, Spencer Penner, Reece Gault, Miles, Burns and captain Noah Szabo were there to to either clear the zone or come up with play to keep Portage to the outside.
As expected, the Terriers did push back but a great response by players like Bryden Berg, Mathis Laplante and Brett Kaiser, all three bringing their games to the next level, especially Kaiser, who's play the last two games has been nothing short of exceptional, pushed right back and showed the Pistons were not going to fade away.
It remained 2-0 Steinbach after two periods with Steinbach getting the edge in shots 11-6.
Coming hard right out of the intermission, the Terriers forced a puck to the blue paint and went crashing toward the goal trying to jam it home. Green was able to seal the five-hole and with all his might, held the fort as it looked like the puck might sneak through, the athletic goalie slammed the door and kept his team up by two.
A massive goal for Steinbach came off a harmless looking faceoff in the offensive zone. Noad tied his man up off the draw, pushing the puck forward for Fuchs, who powered through his checker and was able to uncork a perfect wrist shot, clanking it off the post and in for his 2nd of the playoffs.
The 3-0 goal brought the crowd of 2475 to their feet as a new level of noise filled the arena.
Both teams kept right at each other, delivering hits and tossing shots after whistles.
Portage looked as though they would get closer on a power play but an absolute 10-bell save by Christian Green kept them off the scoreboard.
After a defender dropped his stick near the blueline, Portage had a lane open up and placed a perfect backdoor pass to the far side but Green was able to read the play and kick his left pad out for one of his best saves of the season.
With under five minutes to go in the game, the Terriers did finally solve Green after a broken play in front resulted in a slot shot that got through and cut the lead to 3-1.
Grady Hoffman, Connor Paronuzzi and Sam Zagari saved their best shifts for later in the game as the three forwards played tight, pay-the-price style defese, making smart plays and working hard to keep the Terriers from winding up.
In the final minutes, the Pistons were called for a penalty while the teams were already four-on-four, meaning that with the Portage net empty, it would be a 5-on-3 for the Terriers.
Noad once again came up huge winning a faceoff in the defensive zone and Penner cleared the puck the length of the ice.
Time ticked away and the Pistons celebrated the 3-1 win to claw a little closer in the series, down 3-2.
The power play, a source of conversation of late, looked much, much better for Steinbach and came close on a number of occasions, but still finished 0-4.
The penalty kill was a perfect 5-5 with a highlight block from Barnett during one of the kills.
Green finished with 19 saves on the night for his second playoff win and got pats on the pads from everyone, especially his goalie partner River Leslie-Toogood who made sure to say some encouraging words throughout the game.
Game six is set for Monday evening in Portage with the drop of the puck set for 7:30 p.m.