Ty Dilello
The Niverville Nighthawks are fighting for their playoff lives after a gut-wrenching 3–2 double overtime loss to the Steinbach Pistons on Tuesday night. With the loss, the Nighthawks go down 3–0 in the best-of-seven series.
After a scoreless first period, the Pistons scored to take a 1–0 lead early in the second frame. From there, the Nighthawks took over, scoring a pair of goals from Michael Debrito and Luke MacKenzie to take a 2–1 lead heading into the final period.
Steinbach’s pressure eventually got to Niverville. They scored the game-tying goal with ten minutes remaining to send the contest into overtime.
Overtime provided numerous scoring chances for both teams, but the goaltenders stood tall.
Sadly, just two minutes into the second overtime, the Nighthawks took a costly penalty and the Pistons scored on the ensuing power play.
Raiden LeGall stopped 43 shots for the Nighthawks in the loss.
“It’s tough when you play a great game and come out on the wrong side of it,” said Nighthawks head coach Dwight Hirst. “But in the playoffs, it’s a short-term memory type of mentality. We’re back at it on Thursday night at home with a boisterous crowd waiting for us. We’re looking forward to it.”
The series shifts back to Niverville for game four on March 28. It’s a must-win game with the season on the line, so the club is calling on all fans to come out and make it a crazy environment for could very well be the final home game of the season. The puck drops at 7:30 p.m.
“We’re just going to continue to work hard and take it shift by shift,” said Hirst.