Sign up for the battlefordsNOW newsletter

Strong third period leads North Stars to 5th straight win

Feb 20, 2016 | 2:30 PM

After a 13-day break, perhaps it’s not surprising the Battlefords North Stars started Friday’s game like they were shot out of a cannon.

The North Stars played the Yorkton Terriers, a team they have beaten all three times so far this season. In their last game on Saturday, Feb. 6 they’d shutout Yorkton 3-0 on the road.

Still, it was the Terriers who jumped on the board early. Just under three minutes into the game, a centring pass deflected off of Kailum Gervais and past Tyler Fuhr to give the Terriers the lead.

The North Stars just didn’t seem like their normal selves, missing passes they’ve connected on all season. They also didn’t get much puck luck throughout the first 40 minutes of the game. 

Jake McMillen had a great chance to tie the game in the first when he had a wide open net on a wraparound, but he lost his footing just as he was trying to come out in front of the net.

The shots were 12-7 in favour of Yorkton after the first period, which for the most part the North Stars would like to forget.

In the second period the ice started to tilt in the North Stars favour a little bit as they allowed just two shots on goal from Yorkton, but they still couldn’t find the back of the net themselves.

The North Stars were sporting a record of 3-9-1-1 in games in which they trailed after two periods, and a big third period push was expected only being down 1-0.

That’s exactly what happened as they tied the game early into the final frame. Layne Young was at the right spot at the right time when a puck bounced onto his stick directly in front of the net and he made no mistakes, shovelling it through the five hole of Jakob Severeson to tie the game.

Six minutes later, Logan Nachtegaele took matters into his own hands to get his team, and the Civic Centre crowd, on their feet. Off a faceoff in the offensive zone Nachtegaele and Adam Santoro dropped the gloves and moved to the right face-off circle. After a bit of grappling, Nachtegaele landed a massive left hook which lead to the two falling to the ice.

The fight clearly sparked the North Stars, as they took their first lead of the game just 43 seconds later. Igor Leonenko spotted Coby Downs streaking into the slot and fed him the pass. Downs was all alone in front of the net and beat Severson for his 26th goal of the year to make it 2-1.

In the later stages of the period the North Stars tried to put the game to bed. A rush with Dustin Gorgi and Reed Delainey had Gorgi appearing to score as he took a shot on net from the left side of the slot, but the puck must have bounced off Severson, off the post and come out to the right side of the crease for Delainey to score his third goal in four games to make it 3-1.

The Terriers wouldn’t back down however. With 56 seconds left in the game and Severson on the bench for the extra attacker, Corwin Steevely and Tyler Baier played give-and-go from the goal line and Steevely rifled a one-timer over the glove of Fuhr to cut the lead to 3-2.

The North Stars hung on, collapsing to the net to make sure shots didn’t get through to their goaltender as they won their fifth straight game, sweeping the season series with Yorkton 4-0.

The North Stars are now off for the rest of the weekend until their next game Tuesday, Feb. 23 in Humboldt. It’s a “first vs. worst” standings-wise matchup, and the North Stars have had a lot of success against their division rivals this season. They lead the season series 5-0, outscoring the Broncos by a staggering 26-4 margin.

cjnbsports@jpbg.ca      

On Twitter: @craig_beauch