Colton Friesen increased his goal streak to three games on Tuesday night as the Flyers fell 5-1 to the visiting Neepawa Natives. Despite outshooting Neepawa 37-32, Winkler’s offensive short falls continued as their chances failed to translate into goals.

Coming off their best offensive showing in a 6-5 win over the Dauphin Kings on Saturday afternoon, the Flyers welcomed the Neepawa Natives for their third meeting of the season. The two teams had not met since the opening weekend of the regular season, where the Flyers beat the Natives twice by identical 4-3 scores.

Neepawa got the upper hand in the opening minute as Brad Marshall got to Winkler starter Riley Morgan just 47 seconds into the game. Then with 4:44 gone in the first, Raihan Kheraj fed the puck over the Colton Friesen who picked the top corner for his sixth of the season. It was Kheraj’s team leading 11th assist as Friesen’s goal scoring streak increased to three games.

Still tied 1-1 early in the second period, the Natives moved in front for good with a nice tip in front of the net. After several minutes of steady Winkler pressure later in the middle frame, a shot from between the circles gave the visitors a two goal lead and Winkler trailed 3-1 after 40 minutes.

With the breaks certainly not going the Flyers’ way, the Natives tacked on two more before the end and the Flyers would be forced to settle for the loss.

Riley Morgan made 27 saves on 32 shots as Winkler outshot Neepawa 37-32. Winkler went 0-for-4 on the power-play and 3-for-3 on the penalty-kill.

The Flyers (12-10-2) will travel to OCN this weekend for two games against the Blizzard. You can catch the broadcast live from the Gordon Lathlin Memorial Centre Friday and Saturday night on Country 88.9FM and online at www.pembinavalleyonline.com beginning at 6:55pm both nights. You can also video stream the game with a subscription to www.hockeytv.com. The Flyers are 1-0 against OCN this season.

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