The Dauphin Kings ended a four-game home stand with a 4-3 overtime victory over the Neepawa Titans, Saturday at Credit Union Place.
Trey Gnetz was the overtime hero for Dauphin, snapping home a shot past Neepawa netminder Mason Lobreau, who was stellar in goal, making 44 saves.
For Gnetz, it was his first of the season.
Also scoring for Dauphin were Alex Senf with his first, Blake Boudreau with his fifth and Rhett Perrin with his first.
Dylan Schrader, Kyle Weisgarber and Cooper Kasprick scored for Neepawa, with Kasprick’s goal coming on a power play with 4:32 left in the third to tie the game.
Cole Sheffield picked up his league-leading sixth win of the season, making 17 saves in the process.
Kings head coach and general manager Doug Hedley noted Neepawa had five different players dressed from the night before when they lost 9-2 to the Waywayseecappo Wolverines, which made a difference in their play.
“I’m glad we got the two points. They hang in there and they work hard. We had so many chances and real good looks. Lobreau plays well. You’ve got to be lucky to be good and good to be lucky and he was both,” he said.
The Kings dominated from the opening faceoff, with a strong forecheck.
The line of Ethan Williment, Perrin and Gavin Nemis was outstanding all night, Hedley said, pointing out Nemis stripped the puck off a Neepawa player in the neutral zone leading to Gnetz’s game winner.
“I was really happy with those three. Just our work ethic overall is really good. We’re working hard,” he added. “The stick battles tonight had to be definitely over 50. Stick battles are usually one of our indicators on how hard you’re working. I thought with the stick battles tonight, we turned a lot of pucks over.”
The Kings used their speed to break out of their zone well, Hedley added, which led to some good scoring chances.
“Coming up through the dots and we drove the paint really well. Senf’s goal was a really nice play. That’s the kind of stuff we have to do. Because our D-men are so active, we can drive three guys to the net and still get that fourth guy coming in with the D-man jumping in late,” he said.
As well as the Kings are playing, there are still some areas that could be improved upon, such as the power play, which sits last in the division and 11th overall at 11.1 per cent success rate.
The penalty kill is sixth overall at 84 per cent.
“Our power play has got to get better. It’s got to start making teams pay for taking penalties and taking liberties on us. So we’ve got to be better on special teams,” he said. “Defensively, we played really well tonight, using the weak side and getting pucks up the dots. And our rush defence probably has to improve a little bit, just identifying guys that we’re picking up and communicating who’s got who.”
After a slack schedule through the early part of October, things will pick up now as the Kings hit the road, Saturday, to play the Wolverines in Waywayseecappo at 7:30 p.m., before heading to Winnipeg for the league’s Showcase at the Seven Oaks Sportsplex, where they will face the Niverville Nighthawks, Oct. 23, at 4 p.m.
The next day, Dauphin plays the Winkler Flyers, which leads the MGEU East Division with a 7-0-0-0 record, having allowed just nine goals in those seven games.
The Kings sit alone in first place in the MGEU West Division with a 6-1-0-0 record, one point ahead of the Virden Oil Capitals, but Dauphin has games in hand on every other team in the division and will play their next seven games in 15 days.
