Van Taylor’s goal with 6:47 to play stood up as the game winner as the Prince Albert Mintos defeated the Swift Current Legionnaires 4-3 to sweep their first two-game series of the season.
Konnor Watson, Caden Dunn and Logan Pickford also had goals for Prince Albert, who managed to score enough goals to win despite a small number of shots on goal.
Goaltender Jayden Kraus stopped 25 of 28 Swift Current shots to earn the win for Prince Albert, while Jacob Morris made 13 saves for the Legionnaires in a losing cause.
The Mintos took a 2-0 lead into the first intermission despite having only four shots on goal in the first period. Dunn opened the scoring roughly eight minutes into the first when he took a cross ice feed from Owen Nelson and fired a wrist shot past Morris to make it 1-0 on the powerplay.
Pickford made it 2-0 roughly five minutes later with a wrist shot to the top corner after Watson forced a Swift Current turnover.
Eric Hoiness made it 2-1 early in the second period on the first of two powerplay goals for the Legionnaires, but Watson restored the two goal lead with a shorthanded marker with 6:46 to go in the period.
Swift Current rallied with two goals in 20 seconds to send the two teams deadlocked into the third period. The Legionnaires outshot the Mintos 9-4 in the final frame, but Taylor was the only player on either team to score. He took a pass from Konnor Watson and snapped a quick shot over a sprawling Morris to make it 4-3.
The Mintos hit the road for their next four games, starting with a date in Moose Jaw with the AAA Warriors. Puck drop is 1:30 p.m. at the Moose Jaw Events Centre on Saturday, Oct. 8.
Their next home game is Sunday, Oct. 16 when they take on the Notre Dame Hounds at the Art Hauser Centre. Puck drop is 1:30 p.m.