Nast leads Great Falls to Game 1 win in Yellowstone

Nick Nast made 37 saves to lead the Great Falls Americans to a 2-1 win in Game 1 of the Frontier Division Finals.

Frontier Division Finals, Game 1: Great Falls 2 @ Yellowstone 1 (Great Falls leads best of 3 series, 1-0) – A stifling defense and great goaltending led the visiting Great Falls Americans to a 2-1 win on Thursday night in Game 1 of the Frontier Division Finals. The visiting Americans, aided by an early goal, made the usually explosive Quake play their game. The scoring opened early in the 1st period as an oddly bouncing puck shot by Payton McSharry less than two-and-a-half minutes into the first period handcuffed Quake goalie Nick Ottenbacher in slow motion for a 1-0 lead. The one time the Quake seemed to gain momentum occurred when Pablo Pantoja scored the club's only goal 3:05 into the second period. Cole Stewart and Max Meyer assisted. However, Great Falls added another goal from Brendan Jester over four minutes later as it stood up even after Yellowstone coach Ryan Theros went to an empty-net strategy with 1:30 remaining. Great Falls netminder Nick Nast made 37 saves in the win while Ottenbacher made 24 saves in the loss. Game 2 is Friday in Great Falls. Boxscore