Mintos overcome early deficit in 6-1 win over Maulers

Michael Oleksyn/Daily Herald The Prince Albert Mintos Kelan Simonds handles the puck during the Mintos 6-1 win over the Yorkton Maulers on Saturday evening at the Art Hauser Centre.

The Prince Albert Mintos opened their weekend series against the Yorkton Maulers with a 6-1 win on Saturday night at the Art Hauser Centre.

After falling behind early the Mintos came all the way back with six unanswered goals.

Mintos’ assistant coach Dane Byers explained that after some adjustments the team pushed back.

“We had a slow start and they came out physical and they were right on top of us. And then in the second period we responded awesome, we got back to doing the little things, we made a couple of adjustments and the guys really bought into our adjustments and took it to them,” Byers said.

Kaidon Mah scored the lone Maulers’ goal eight minutes into the first period.

After Logan Pickford tied the game with four minutes left in the first the Mintos scored four goals in the second with Nolan Patterson picking up a pair. Roper Blanchard and Carter Cole added the other second period goals.

Byers pointed to the leadership of Blanchard and Patterson.

“We have got a couple of older fellas Roper (Blanchard) and Patty (Nolan Patterson) they really led the charge in the second and the rest of the guys followed,” he said.

Patterson’s first goal came on a five on three power play after Maulers’ coach Darrell Mann was assessed a bench minor with the Mintos already on the power play.

Corvan Stewart added a late goal to make the final 6-1.

The game had a number of penalties on both teams late in the game with both penalty boxes filled during the final two minutes.

“It got physical and sometimes when a team is down they try to push back, especially when they play the next day. But our guys didn’t back down we were right in their face and it was a good team win and they are excited for tomorrow,” Byers said.

The Mintos remain undefeated at home in the New Year.

“They are important games for us right now but our guys are up for the challenge. We worked all year and we are finally seeing some good results,” he said.

Jayden Kraus made 18 saves for the Mintos;  Blake Sittler made 12 saves for the Maulers in two periods of action before being replaced by Wyatt Bouvier who made two saves.

The Mintos currently sit in eighth place with a record of 16-16-0-1 with 35 points.

The Maulers and Mintos meet again at 1:30 p.m. at the Art Hauser Centre on Sunday afternoon.

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