Nationals play two against Bulls

Through five games, the Glacier Nationals of the North American Tier 3 Hockey League have yet to find the winner's circle. Yet, that is something they hope to change this weekend against the Billings Bulls.

The Nationals, who lost in their last outing to Great Falls by the score of 5-1 last Friday in Havre, will travel to Sidney this weekend for back-to-back games against the Bulls Friday and Saturday night.

The Bulls, who are normally one of the powers in the Frontier Division in which the Nationals play, also enter the game winless at 0-3, compared to Glacier's record of 0-4-1. However, the path the two teams have taken to get to this point are much different.

In three game so far this season, the Bulls have been outscored 13-6. Those numbers aren't great and the Bulls have been getting outscored by more than two goals per game. However, they have been much more competitive than the Nationals, who have been outscored by 28 goals in five games.

Glacier is averaging less than two goals per outing, while their opponents have found the net an incredible 37 times or more than seven times per game. That means if the Nationals are going to get into the win column this week, they need to do a better job defensively.

A big part of limiting goals in hockey comes down to goaltending and that is a position where the Nationals are still rotating a few players. And even though the trio of Ryall Purdy, Mikhail Pahrebets and Ben Perone have all seen an onslaught of shots come their way, all three of them have struggled in net.

Through five games, Purdy, who has two appearances has been the best and he has a goals against average of 5.32 and a save percentage of 89.7. Pahrebets on the other hand, has a goals against average of 6.77 and a save percentage of 86.2, while Perone's goal against average is 8.68 and his save percentage is just 80.4.

That means the Bulls should have a big advantage between the pipes as both of their regular goalies have played better than anyone the Nationals have put out there. Gage Overby has a goals against average of 3.0 and a save percentage of 94.6. Brandon Brown, the Bulls other goalie, has a goals against average of 4.55 and a save percentage of 90.4.

When it comes to the offensive end, both teams have been relying on one player to create a lot of offense. for Glacier, that player has been Tyler McMahon, who has a team-high five goals for Glacier. Wyatt Fretheim, Marvin Simmons and William Bostick have also found the net for the Nationals.

The top scorer for the Bulls in the 2015-16 season has been Mason Graves, who has three goals in three games. Connor Melton, Jeremy Vandekerkhove and Cameron Birklid have also found the net for Billings this season.

Regardless of what happens, at least one team will walk away from Ranger arena with their first win of the season on Friday night. The first puck in that game will drop at 7:30 p.m. Saturday's game will also start at 7:30 p.m.