Stars Edge the Bruins 4-3

Friday night at the Civic Center, the Battlefords North Stars defeated the Estevan Bruins 4-3 and earned their second straight victory.

Blake Peake (18) led the way offensively with two goals and an assist, and now has six points in his last two games. He opened the scoring at 10:35 of the first period. Josh Daley and Shay Neufeld grabbed assists on the goal.

Early in the second period, the Bruins tied the score. Matt Beer scored directly off a face-off win from Chad Filteau.

Peake (19) would tally again for the Stars just 36 seconds later and gave his team the lead again. His second was a beauty. He used his speed to go wide on the defender, and then shelved one on Bruin’s goaltender Chris Neomonitis.

The Bruins tied the score at two just 23 seconds later. Matt White was hauled down on a breakaway, yet still managed to shovel the puck through the legs of Kyle Birch.

The Stars grabbed their third lead of the game at 5:16 when Blake Tatchell (6) scored an eerily similar goal to Peake’s second.

Mid-way through the third period, The Stars finally capitalized on a power-play and put themselves up by two. Jesse Lebreton (10) received a nifty pass from Blake Peake, and walked in two steps and buried it.

Kyle Johnson scored at 11:24 to get Estevan back within one, but the Bruins were unable to take advantage of a late power-play, and lost the game in regulation.

With the victory, the Stars improve to 22-15-1-2, yet they remain one point back of La Ronge for second place in the Bauer Conference. The Stars don’t play again until Friday, January 15th. That night will be a special one for the Stars as they will dawn pink jerseys in support of breast cancer research.

The SJHL Trade Deadline is tomorrow, and there should be lots of ‘tire-kicking’ taking place between now and then. For the first time in three years, it looks like the North Stars are going to be buyers at the deadline. That alone is reason for excitement and optimism.