Erik Baskin's hat trick powered the surging Aberdeen Wings to another win on Friday.
Baskin netted three goals to propel Aberdeen to a 4-1 win over the Coulee Region Chill in a North American Hockey League game at the Odde Ice Center.
"I thought Coulee played very well," Aberdeen coach Travis Winter said. "They worked very hard. I didn't think it was the prettiest game for us, but we found a way to get it done."
Aberdeen has been getting it done for a while now. The win on Friday was the Wings' seventh in a row, the longest active streak in the NAHL. It also was Aberdeen's eighth straight home win, which is also the longest active streak in the league.
"We are definitely playing the best we have all year," Baskin said. "We are just going to keep playing well."
Baskin, who now has 12 goals on the season, provided some quick offense for Aberdeen on Friday. He scored a goal just 44 seconds into the game to give Aberdeen an early 1-0 lead. Kyle Haak and Jonathan Grebosky assisted on the goal.
"It is huge," Baskin said about scoring early in the period. "We always focus on the first shift. Everybody is getting each other going for that first shift of the period to set the tone, usually that dictates how the period is going to go for your team."
Coulee scored its lone goal in the first period to knot it up at 1-all. Aberdeen's Justin Parizek scored in the second period on a power play goal with assists from Colton Kramer and Jordan Heller, giving the Wings a 2-1 lead.
Baskin then scored another quick goal just one minute and eight seconds in the third period to stretch Aberdeen's lead to 3-1. Grebosky assisted on the goal.
"That is huge," Winter said about the quick goals. "Any time you can start a period and you get some offense going and you score a goal, it really can change the momentum of the game. Those are two very, very big goals for us tonight."
Baskin capped off his hat track with over two minutes left in the game on assists from Haak and Dylan Dailey. It was Baskin's first hat trick of the season.
"That was nice," he said. "Stuff was going in. My teammates were working hard and I was fortunate enough to get a few."
Aberdeen goaltender Chad Catt finished with 24 saves on the night. Aberdeen now improves to 21-29-7 and it is still alive in the playoff race. The Wings need to win their last three games and Minot needs to lose its last three games for the Wings qualify for the playoffs. Minot lost 4-3 against Brookings on Friday.
However, Aberdeen is keeping the focus on itself.
"We just have to worry about ourselves," Winter said. "We have taken a game-by-game approach ever since I have been here. Our only focus is to find a way to beat Coulee Region (tonight) and we will go from there."
Aberdeen and Coulee Region will play at 7:15 p.m. tonight at the Odde Ice Center.
Coulee Region|100-1
Aberdeen|112-4
First Period: 1, Aberdeen, Erik Baskin (Kyle Haak, Jonathan Grebosky), 19:16; 2, Coulee Region, Eddie Matsushima (Jake Kauppila), 6:28.
Second Period: 3, Aberdeen, Justin Parizek (Colton Kramer, Jordan Heller), 2:16.
Third Period: 4, Aberdeen, Baskin (Grebosky), 18:52; 5, Aberdeen, Baskin (Dylan Dailey, Haak), 2:11.
Goalies: Coulee Region, Tim Shaughnessy (32 shots, 28 saves); Aberdeen, Chad Catt (25 shots, 24 saves).
Attendance: 1,362.