The Battlefords North Stars dropped their third straight contest in a 2-0 loss to the Melfort Mustangs. Despite Nathan Claydon stopping 36 of the 37 shots he faced, the North Stars couldn’t solve Mustangs goaltender Nick Kotai, who made 32 saves.
“We’re frustrated,” said North Stars assistant coach Owen Lamb after the game.
“We did a lot of really good things tonight. I thought our guys played well. We gave ourselves every chance to be successful tonight. We got to find a way to put them in the back of the net. Kotai played great tonight, but we still got to find a way to beat him.”
Some of the best chances of the first period for both teams came within a minute of each other. On a short-handed two-on-one, Kaleb Dewar elected to shoot but hit the post.
The Mustangs brought it the other way, and Matthew Bertolin’s shot from the slot was saved by Claydon. Bertolin picked up his own rebound and was stopped by Claydon again, then Luke Dekay’s rebound chance was turned away.
When the North Stars cleared the zone, Finlay Klippenstein found Carter Geysen on a quick breakaway, but Geysen’s shot was saved and went out of play.
After one: Tied 0-0
The Mustangs sent just about everything they had at Claydon in the second period, outshooting the North Stars 19-9 in the middle frame.
A dangerous scoring opportunity came just over halfway through the period when Dru Mushumanski had a point-blank chance on the doorstep that was stopped by Claydon. Dekay had a couple of chances to jam the puck past Claydon’s pad, but the North Stars goaltender held strong to keep it scoreless.
Later in the period, Jack Ross’ point shot was stopped before Claydon sprawled across the crease to stop the puck with the shaft of his stick.
“In the second period, we felt like Melfort maybe poured it on us there, and he was always there to make the big saves,” said Lamb.
“I know there’s a few chances around his doorstep, but he held his ground and controlled the rebounds, and just an awesome performance from the 20-year-old tonight.”
After two: Tied 0-0
Through 40, it seemed that the first team to score would be the one to win the game. At the 1:59 mark, Luke MacKenzie finally solved Claydon.
MacKenzie walked into the zone on the right-hand side and scored top shelf past Claydon to make it 1-0 with his third goal of the season.
Despite the North Stars outshooting the Mustangs 12-5 in the final frame, Kotai stood tall to stop every shot that came his way.
Bertolin extended his team lead in goals to six with an empty-net goal with 47 seconds left, and the Mustangs handed the North Stars their second shutout loss in three games.
Final score: 2-0 Mustangs
As the North Stars prepare to host the Humboldt Broncos on Saturday, Lamb is ready for his guys to get right back to it.
“You just got to use this as fuel or motivation. We’ve got a lot of great hockey players in the room, a lot of guys who can put the puck in the net. It’s just a matter of getting that one so you can feel good about your game, and they’re going to come in bunches.”
Humboldt looks a lot different from when the teams played two weeks ago. The North Stars will see Ryan Ulmer, Jack Martin and Leo Seitz in Broncos sweaters for the first time after they were recently dealt to Humboldt from the Flin Flon Bombers.
Humboldt also added Owen Chapman and Brady Holtvogt back to the roster and will have Connor Miller, who didn’t play against the North Stars last time out.
“Obviously, they got new faces, but we’re up for the challenge. There’s a lot of talk going into these three players they picked up, but we got a lot of good players in our room too, and I think we’re up for the challenge,” said Lamb.
The Ultra Print pregame show begins at 7 p.m., while the puck drops for NAPA Auto Parts North Stars hockey at 7:30 p.m. on CJNB/CJNS.
—
