The Bombers and Bruins can't seem to play a boring game. Another Saturday night thriller between the two clubs went to OT - with a happy ending for Bomber fans.
Zach Cain got the overtime winner with 18 seconds to go in sudden death to give the Bombers a 7-6 road victory against the reigning SJHL champions.
Flin Flon got the upper hand early, with Jeremi Tremblay opening the scoring less than five minutes in, deflecting a point shot by Reece Richmond past Estevan's Cam Hrdlicka and into the net. That lead would last for a bit, but Mitch Kohner would get the Bruins on the board just past the halfway point of the frame, beating Kylynn Olafson to the front of the net, outwaiting Kenneth Marquart and firing it home, tying the game.
It was at this point where the Bomber offence came out with vengeance on their minds, scoring no fewer than four goals in the final 6:13 of the first period. Alexi Sylvestre got the party going a minute after Kohner's tying goal, capitalizing on a Cody Davis turnover and beating Hrdlicka with a backhand. Less than 20 seconds later, Cole Duperreault - returning to the lineup after missing a game earlier in the Bombers' southern road trip - got a feed from Sylvestre on the sidewall and blew a shot past Hrdlicka on a partial break. 3-1, maroon and white.
Cody Davis got a bit of redemption, bringing the Bruins within one with a powerplay goal on a rebound, but Flin Flon was barely deterred, with Sylvestre holding on to the puck through the corner, waltzing untouched into the high slot and beating Hrdlicka again with a long wrist shot. The coup de grace of the period came from Duperreault, who beat Hrdlicka with a glove-side shot that chased Hrdlicka from the crease to the bench. In 19 minutes of play, Hrdlicka gave up five goals on 12 Bomber shots - Flin Flon headed to the dressing room up 5-2.
The second period saw the offence go silent for a while, woken up by Estevan's Jagjeevan Phangura, who brought Estevan within two with a slapshot that soared right past Marquart. The only goal of the frame would cut Flin Flon's lead, but still mean a 5-3 lead going into the final frame.
It was Estevan's chance to have an offensive explosion in the third. Davis got his second of the night, capitalizing on a powerplay miscue from the Bombers, marching back down the ice with Keagon Little, getting a pass and roofing it on Marquart. The Bombers' lead had gone from three to one.
Flin Flon restored their two goal edge thanks to Matt Egan, who smacked in a loose puck in the slot and scored his first goal in over two months to make it 6-4. To add insult to injury for the host Bruins, Kohner took a 10-minute misconduct penalty after the goal, putting the Bruins down one of their best players.
Against the odds, the Bruins would march right back and make the game interesting once more. Gabriel Fillion made it a one-goal game once again with just under five minutes to go, flipping a backhand through traffic and past Marquart.
Estevan would get a break when Matt Egan took a boarding penalty late in the third, pulling their goalie to make it a 6-on-4 advantage in the final minutes of regulation. That approach paid off with Davis scoring his hat-trick goal with a minute and a half left on the clock, getting the last touch on a puck that bounced off Bomber captain Lucas Fry and in.
Despite five goals in the first period, the Bruins had pulled even.
Things weren't fully in the home team's advantage though - Phangura took a 10-minute misconduct for chirping Bomber players following the goal, putting one of the Bruins' top forwards in the box for the rest of the game. Flin Flon's Ethan Mercer made the game even more tense, taking a tripping call in the last minute and giving the Bruins a powerplay in the dying seconds, but the Bruins' Aleksa Babic would take a penalty of his own at the final second of regulation, evening things up.
Overtime would be necessary, three-on-three - Alex Von Sprecken, Zach Cain and Cory King for the Bombers; Little, Kohner and Tyler Guy for the Bruins. Estevan got the first big chance of the extra frame, with a two-on-one with Kohner and Little. Von Sprecken forced Kohner wide with a diving poke-check, with Kohner trying to go wide on Marquart, making contact with the goalie and drawing a penalty for goalie interference - with Marquart getting a holding penalty for hanging on to Kohner's stick following the contact. The game would stay three-on-three.
More back-and-forth action would ensue - Davis turned the puck over in his own zone again, giving Mercer and Jacob Vockler a chance with a short four-on-three, but a Bruin defender knocked it wide. Vockler would hit the post moments later. More chances were saved by Estevan backup Jackson Miller, who stood tall under pressure.
Flin Flon dominated possession, especially once both Mercer and Babic got out of the box and made the game four-on-four before a stoppage. Estevan got a breakaway by Little with a minute left to play, but Marquart made a big kick save. The play came back the other way, with Vockler finding Duperreault, Duperreault holding on to the puck, finding an open Cain coming in far side and Cain beating Miller clean with 10 seconds left on the OT clock.
Marquart, facing arguably his toughest test yet in the Bomber net, got the W with a gutsy 26 save showing. Miller, coming into the crease for the Bruins in relief, made 26 saves on 28 shots, but would still be stuck with the loss.
The Bomber win creates gridlock in the SJHL standings - Flin Flon now has 61 points, the same amount as Humboldt and La Ronge, forming a three-way tie for second in the league and a tie with the Ice Wolves. Going by points percentage, the Broncos, who have played 43 games, rank higher than Flin Flon, who've played 44 games, and La Ronge, who have played 49 games. All three teams are four points clear of fifth-place Melfort and nine points clear of Estevan, who now sit sixth.
The win gives the Bombers a victory in the season series against Estevan, winning three out of four games including all three of the teams' most recent meetings.
Flin Flon's final four-games-in-five-nights road swing comes to an end Sunday night with a matchup in Wilcox against the Notre Dame Hounds.
