Twenty-six games, 23 wins. The Bombers' historically red-hot start continued Saturday with a 6-2 win over third-place Humboldt.
The Bombers spotted Humboldt a pair of early goals, but put the power down later, scoring six straight goals to take the lead and, eventually, their fourth straight win and their 11th straight game with at least one point.
Humboldt got a lead barely a minute into the game, when a Connor Thue point shot was tipped in front by Patrick Lanthier and snuck through Harmon Laser-Hume. Lanthier got a second goal a few moments later, finding open space near the net and beating Laser-Hume on a play he had almost no chance to stop.
Flin Flon got on the board after Noah Houle fired a wrister into the net, capitalizing on a great keep at the line by Luke Lepper. Soon after, Adam McNutt almost scored a goal-of-the-year candidate when he cut through the neutral zone, split both defenders and beat Humboldt's Aidan Fischer - but the puck, despite McNutt celebrating as if it went in at first, did not enter the net. It would instead get stuck on top of the net and play would be stopped. Flin Flon entered the second period down a goal.
From here on out, it was all Flin Flon, all the time. Having spotted the opposition a pair of goals early, the Bombers tightened up, adding five goals in the final 40 minutes. The game was tied by Alexi Sylvestre six minutes into the second, coming in with Jacob Vockler. Vockler played magician with the puck, firing a perfect no-look pass that found Sylvestre, who hit it with a little abra-cadabra and got it past Fischer.
With Flin Flon hammering shots at the Humboldt net, Thompson's Carter Anderson boomed another powerplay goal to give the Bombers the lead - a 3-2 advantage that would continue into the third.
Humboldt did their best to pump shots on Laser-Hume, but the goalie was up to the task. The Bombers would extend their lead to 4-2 with a second goal from Anderson, scoring his sixth goal of the weekend and becoming just the second SJHL player this year (behind Justin Lies) to crack 20 goals.
The Broncos' lack of discipline late sunk their ship. With another powerplay chance, Sylvestre tapped home his second of the night as it laid flat in the crease, then Anthony Piccininno ended the night with an empty-netter with just over five minutes left, jumping behind the defence and scoring after leaving the penalty box.
Laser-Hume picked up his league-leading 16th win of the season with a 41-save performance. Fischer made 41 saves in a losing effort.
With a pair of losses by second-place Battlefords this weekend, the Bombers take a stranglehold on the SJHL standings with 48 points in 26 games - the team has left only four points on the board this year. Battlefords now sits second with 41 points in 29 games - seven fewer points in three more games.
Flin Flon now has five games remaining before the holiday break - that starts with three next week, a road trip to La Ronge's Mel Hegland Uniplex to face the Ice Wolves Dec. 6, then a weekend home set against Weyburn Dec. 8-9. The Bombers will then head into the holiday break with a pair of games against La Ronge, a home and home that'll see La Ronge host Dec. 15 and Flin Flon host Dec. 16.
