The Dauphin Kings are 4-0 to start the season after sweeping a home-and-home with the Neepawa Titans over the weekend.

After spotting Neepawa a 1-0 lead midway through the opening period, Friday in Neepawa, the Kings rattled off four unanswered goals to skate away with a 4-1 victory.

On Saturday in Dauphin, the Kings scored a 3-1 win in a game in which they outshot the Titans, 43-16.

Kings head coach and general manager Doug Hedley felt Saturday’s win was ugly.

“We can play a lot better than that. You take it and you get better and learn from it. The fortunate thing is we can learn and still get two points,” he said, adding it is still early in the season, but the first 10 games of any season is so important to a team’s success.

“The better start you get off to, the better work ethic you have. The better energy you have. It just sets the tone for the whole season,” he said.

Neepawa netminder Mason Lobreau kept his team in the game.

Ethan Williment gave the Kings a 1-0 lead with a power-play marker late in the first, but the Kings couldn’t solve the Neepawa tender again until early in the third frame.

“He’s a good goaltender, there’s no doubt about it. I didn’t think we made it tough enough for him. If he sees the puck, he’s going to stop it. We didn’t get a lot of traffic in front of him. We didn’t get a lot of guys going to the net for second shots. Not a lot of rebounds,” Hedley said.

“If there’s one thing he will do is he will give up the odd rebound if you’re going to the paint and trying to get a second shot. There’s things we’ve got to get better at. We know that.”

Hedley feels the top players can be better, but some of the rookies are starting to produce.

Joey Kubas netted his first goal as a King in Friday’s win, while Declan Hoad found the back of the net on Saturday.

The top line of Cayden Glover, Gavin Nemis and Jack Bechard was fantastic in Friday’s win, Hedley said.

“They had a real good game. And the energy that we had there, the forecheck that we had, just a totally different game,” he said, adding the ice conditions may be playing a factor.

“I don’t know what’s going on with the ice here, but it gets awfully bouncy and it gets awfully slow. I don’t know what’s going on, but it’s got to get better.”

Dauphin will look to make it five straight wins when they host the defending league champion Winkler Flyers, tonight at 7:30 p.m.

The home stand will continue, Friday, when the Portage Terriers visit Credit Union Place, also at 7:30 p.m.

“Neepawa played very well against Winkler (a 5-4 Neepawa victory, Sept. 24). I think it’s one of those things where we know they’ve got a big hockey club. They play aggressive, they play hard and they really compete. So we’re going to have our A game, no doubt,” Hedley said.

In terms of player movement, Jackson Hofer was reassigned to Fort Knox of the Prairie Junior Hockey League.

The deal with the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League’s Flin Flon Bombers, which saw the Kings acquire forward Ashton Paul and futures for defenceman Anthony Bax was completed, last week, with the Kings acquiring 18-year-old defenceman Daniel Helary.

The six-foot, four-inch, 198-pound Calgary native had not played a game with the Bombers this season. He had eight goals and 22 points in 29 games with Prairie Hockey Academy, last season.

The addition of Helary gives the Kings eight defencemen and 17 forwards, plus two goaltenders. Hedley plans to get down to at least 25 players by next week.