The league leading Devils met the upset minded Penguins in Saturday’s opening matchup.  Bryce Brodzinski gave the Penguins the early lead with a rebound goal that began as a three on one created by a misplay at neutral ice.  After giving up the opening goal the Devils picked up the intensity and used a relentless forecheck to keep the Penguins bottled up.  The Devils Brady Baker evened the score with an unassisted goal and took the lead when Darian Gotz found the back of the net. 

The Penguins were determined to make a game of it and did when Andrew Wilson lit the lamp early in the second to even the score at two.  The Devils gained the lead again on a Peter Hansen tally only to have the Penguins tie it at three on a goal by Daniel Magnuson.  In the end the Devils proved to be too much for the Penguins, as Darian Gotz scored his second goal of the game and a goal from Elliott Peterson finished the scoring and behind Ryan Ullian’s 27 saves the Devils claimed a 5-3 win.

The Lightning started fast and didn’t take their foot off the gas scoring five first period goals to take a five to zero lead to the locker room.  The Lightning started the scoring with a Blaine Warnert power play goal and closed the first period scoring with a Derek Roberts power play goal.  The Lightning scored  even strength goals by Jackson Jutting, Jack Hennemann, and another by Blaine Warnert between the power play goals to build the five to zero lead after one.

The second half started with running time due to the goal differential, but that didn’t last long as Tanner Mack scored an unassisted goal for the Stars.  Mack’s goal brought the rest of the Stars to life and goals by Jack Westlund and Ethan Frische would bring the Stars to within two with plenty of time.  The Lightning did not want to see their five goal lead evaporate any further and goals by Robert Christy and William Francis put an end to the Stars rally giving the Lightning a 7-3 win.

Game three featured the Devils looking to post their second win of the weekend versus the Bruins who were looking to play spoiler against the current leader in the standings.  This game provided all kinds of excitement as both teams wanted to play fast and get up and down the ice.  The Devils got the scoring started with Kade Bender scoring with a pretty wrist shot off of a Bruin turnover with Peter Hansen and Gavin Rasmussen collecting assists on the play.  Both teams traded scoring opportunities over the next several minutes and Brady Meyer of the Bruins opportunistic goal with the assist going to Joseph Foss evened the score.

The second half provided continued to provide more great action as both teams came out skating hard searching for the win.  Andrew Acers goal gave the Devils the next lead and kept the hopes alive of ending Saturday with two wins.  The Bruins had an answer however. Tucker Schumacher fed a streaking Dustin Sorensen who buried the puck in the back of the net and Will Hillman scored thirty seconds later giving the Bruins their first lead of the day.  Both teams battled the rest of the way and Jack Jensen’s empty netter sealed the Devil’s fate and gave the Bruins a four to two win.

Our final game of the day featured the Stars and Wild.  The Stars were hoping for a better start in this game after going down five to zero in their earlier game before having a second half rally fall short.  Ben Brinkman and Jackson Wille provided the first period offense for the Wild as they both scored twice in the first to put the Wild up 4-0 with Wille scoring on a pretty backhand move late in the period on a breakaway.

Just as earlier the Stars rallied to start the second with Jack Westlund, Max Phillips and Ben Doherty scoring the next three goals to draw the Stars within one goal with plenty of time to go.  The Wild’s Brett Chorske was not about to let the Stars complete this rally as he tallied twice for the Wild to push the lead back to three.  Carvin Martin would also add another Wild goal and an empty netter by Ben Brinkman giving him a hat trick for the game ended this game with a eight to three score in favor of the Wild.