The Richardson Pioneer Weyburn Red Wings will be looking to rebound from Saturday’s 5-0 loss against the Melfort Mustangs when they take to the ice tonight in Yorkton for a Viterra Division matchup against the Terriers.  

This will be the second meeting of the season between the two teams, with the Terriers having won the first game, which was the season opener for the Wings, 4-1 back on September 30th. The win helped the Terriers hold their .500 record against the Red Wings over the past season. However, with three of those games being overtime or shootout losses, Weyburn has won 12 of the last 21 matchups between the two teams in that timeframe. 

Yorkton is also coming off a loss in their last game, falling 3-1 to the Humboldt Broncos. The Terriers have won two of their last five games, only scoring more than three goals in one of those five games. This is a Terriers team that has been snake-bitten on offence, at times, while limiting the scoring opportunities of their opponents. 

For the Red Wings, their record in the past five games has been 2-3 as well. Similarly, to Yorkton, they have only scored more than three goals in one game, relying on strong defensive play and goaltending in their victories. 

When it comes to special teams, it is starting to look like the penalty problems the Red Wings were running into in the first few games of the season are behind them. Averaging at one point more than 40 minutes in penalties a game, they have seen that average drop significantly, down to 30.5. This has also seen the amount of time on the penalty kill start to decline as well. 

The Red Wings come into the game tonight with a penalty kill that has allowed 10 goals so far this season and is operating at 81.1 percent overall, and 81.8 percent on the road. Their power play has also found success this season and has converted 17.1 percent of the chances so far. On the road, they have been even better, at 21.4 percent. 

Yorkton has struggled when they have had the power play this season. They have only converted 9.3 percent of their power plays so far. When shorthanded, though, they have managed to prevent their opponents from scoring 84.2 percent of the time.  

Offensively, the Terriers are being led by rookies Karsten Kruska and Clay Sleeva, who have eight points in 11 games so far this season. Veterans Carson Henry, Tyson Janzen and Steven Norum have seven points each. For Weyburn, Braden Birnie is the top point-getter with eight points in eight games. Behind him, the scoring is spread across a good portion of the roster. 

You can catch all the action in tonight’s game on Red Wing Radio, BIG106, presented by Great Plains For. The pregame show starts at 7:15 p.m., and the puck drops at 7:30 p.m.