While renovations continued last weekend elsewhere at the Stettler Recreation Centre, the hometown Lightning cemented their third straight Heritage Junior Hockey League victory.
The Lightning edged the Mountainview Colts 4-3 on Saturday night to widen the gap between the Northern Division mates, with just two weeks left in the regular season.
Stettler, which also faces Mountainview in each of the next two weekends, opened a six-point lead on the third-place Colts (17-10-3). The Lightning, who took a 21-9-1 record into last night’s home game against division-leading Blackfalds (21-7-2), trailed the Wranglers by just one point.
“It’s a head-to-head matchup that’s crucial for first place in our division,” Stettler coach and general manager Doug Smith said before Tuesday’s game. “We’ll need some help from somewhere else down the line to make it happen, but at least we’re putting the pressure on them and making them have to win all the rest of their games, as well.”
The Lightning kept pace with a two-win weekend that began with Friday’s 5-3 victory over the host Three Hills Thrashers, who are fifth in the division with a 12-14-3 record.
Back home Saturday for Hockey Night in Stettler, the Lightning handed the Colts their fifth straight loss. With the season-series tied 1-1, the same teams meet this Saturday at Didsbury and a week later (Feb. 8) in Stettler.
The Colts got on the scoreboard five seconds into a first-period power play as Kevin Vandenhoven one-timed the puck past Lightning goaltender Simon Thieleman.
Stettler answered with two second-period goals. Cam Wright crossed the Mountainview blue-line and ripped the puck off the crossbar to beat Colts goalie Connor Slipp at 7:08.
At the other end, the Colts’ Clinton Armitage banked the puck off a Stettler goalpost but failed to break a 1-1 tie.
Lightning captain Landon Potter was on the Mountainview doorstep with 3:40 left in the period, but Slipp denied him on a quick rebound shot.
Kyler O’Connor gave the Lightning the lead for good when he fired the puck upstairs on the fallen goaltender with 41 seconds remaining in the period. Potter and Jake Schwarzenberger assisted on the power-play goal.
Five minutes into the third period, the Kid Line went to work to put Stettler up 3-1.
Adam Ternes won a faceoff in the Mountainview zone and his brother Scott Ternes scored to finish off a tic-tac-toe play that included linemate Dylan Houston.
On the next shift, Colts captain Braeden Anderson scored to cut the Stettler lead to 3-2, but Derek Muhlbach made it 4-2 at 8:24 when he capitalized on Mountainview’s inability to clear the puck.
With their goaltender on the bench in favour of an extra skater, the Colts got a goal from Ryan Klinck with .3 seconds left, but it was too little, too late.
“Once we get a goal or two, we sure seem to take over from that point on,” Smith said. “We seem to skate better than them and everything.
“Simon (Thieleman) made some huge saves in the second period, when the guys got caught with their pants down. But at the same time, their guy made a couple of huge saves, too, when it was point-blank. So I thought the goaltending, from both teams, was outstanding in the second period.”
Thieleman blocked 29 shots, while the Colts’ Slipp made 43 saves.
Mountainview, with a few players injured or suspended, couldn’t match Stettler’s depth. It’s been a familiar lament for Lightning opponents this season.
“We were fairly well-disciplined and played the game that we wanted to play,” Smith said. “We didn’t really worry about line matchups, because their goal-scorers were spread throughout their lineup, so you just had to play good and solid against every one of their lines.
“We have that ability to come at you with all four lines. It makes a huge difference. If all four lines are going, it takes a team that wants to work hard to be successful against us.”
Lightning defenceman Dylan Muhlbach hasn’t been available lately, because his work commitments have taken him to Slave Lake through Feb. 10.
“It gives the other six guys remaining a chance to go,” Smith said. “Randon Rankin has been cleared to start skating again, after his shoulder separation, so that’ll give us another body back there to kind of get in shape and get ready for the playoffs.”
The Lightning trimmed their roster before the January signing deadline, releasing defenceman Blake Johnson and forward Joel Meredith.
GOALIE GEAR FOUND: Josh McCallum dressed as Thieleman’s backup on Saturday night in the absence of Jeff Skaley, who lost his goalie gear en route to the rink when it flipped out of the back of his truck.
“I was texting him today (Monday) and he found it,” Smith said of Skaley. “Some guy from Coronation had picked up his gear, I guess. His blocker was kind of messed up, but he can borrow one of Simon’s, I imagine. But he found it again, so that’s good.”
ROAD VICTORY: The high-powered Lightning outshot Three Hills 57-37 on Friday night. Veteran forward Jake Schwarzenberger, with a goal and two assists, led the Stettler attack. Landon Potter, Adam Ternes and Kyler O’Connor each added a goal and an assist. Wyat Haustein, on the power play, scored the first Lightning goal after Russell Olson gave the Thrashers the initial lead.
Simon Thieleman, who began his junior B career with Three Hills, made 34 saves in the Stettler net. Brady Hoover, with 52 stops, was a busy boy in the Thrashers’ net.
Three Hills tallied on two of its four power-play opportunities.
The Lightning beat the Thrashers 3-1 in the season-series.
editor@stettlerindependent.com