It was by the skin of their teeth, but the Bombers picked up two points over Estevan Saturday, fending off a doomed last-second charge to win 3-2.
Estevan made a late push but it went spectacularly wrong at the horn, with the Bombers surviving with win number 42 this season.
The Bombers opened the night right with a goal less than three minutes in, courtesy of Carter Anderson with a powerplay goal after getting a pinpoint pass from Jacob Vockler, back in the lineup after an injury layoff. Flin Flon couldn't hold that lead for long though, as Carsyn Dyck jumped on an ugly turnover in the Bombers' defensive zone and beat Kenny Marquart clean, tying the game. The game would stay tied at one going into the second.
The second period started with the Bombers going down a man, with Conor Ryan hauling down Estevan's Owen Barrow to prevent a goal but taking a holding call. Despite that, the Bombers capitalized first - Alexi Sylvestre came in on a breakaway shorthanded and dangled out Bruins 'tender Jackson Miller. 2-1, Bombers.
With Ryan still in the box though, the Bruins kept at it and tied the game back before he could reach the ice. Another Bomber penalty gave the Bruins a five-on-three chance, where Alex Papaspyropoulos and Barrow combined to feed Zachery Burns a wide-open chance near the net that he capitalized on. Less than a minute after taking the lead, the Bombers were tied again.
Almost no offence took place until the early third period, where the Bombers capitalized on a lucky bounce and Jerome Gilbert and Dawson Karol set up Joey Lies, who beat Miller for his second goal of the weekend, putting Flin Flon ahead. Lies celebrated in front of his family's section in the Forum stands, jumping into the glass - the same way and same spot where the Bruins celebrated their shootout win a night before.
Estevan pushed throughout the final frame, but Marquart held tall, leading to a showdown in the dying moments of the game. Still down a goal with barely seven seconds left, the game was a powder keg, waiting to blow - and blow it did.
Estevan, with goalie Miller on the bench and a six-on-five advantage, won the faceoff and created a chance in close, with a point shot deflecting off Cole Tanchuk and onto the stick of Alex Papaspyropoulos, who fired it into the net - but too late to count. The Bombers would win and Estevan erupted after the final whistle.
Bruins players erupted in anger at the call - linesmen had to hold back an incensed Papaspyropoulos, while other Bruins got in the faces of the officials. Chmelevski and Keagon Little sought to get their pound of flesh from the zebras on their way off the ice, incurring penalties after the final whistle - Little snapped his stick in anger on the now-vacant net on his way off.
Papaspyropoulos earned his second post-game misconduct in as many nights, while Chmelevski took a 10-minute misconduct of his own. Little, the Bruins' captain, was assessed a match penalty for physical harassment of officials, one that according to Hockey Saskatchewan rules carries an indefinite suspension pending judgment from the league.
Replay of the goal from FloHockey shows that the clock shown on the video feed, the same as the official time on the Whitney Forum scoreboard, had ticked down to zero before the puck went into the net - Papaspryopoulos had not even touched the puck to shoot it when time expired. The no-goal call was correct. No on-ice officials signalled a goal and the goal judge did not activate the red light.
Marquart made 31 saves on the night for the win, while Miller stopped 42 shots in his second straight start in Flin Flon.
The Bombers leave their final double weekend homestand of the regular season with three of a possible four points, sitting at a 42-6-2-1 record and 87 total points. Flin Flon is now 14 points ahead of second-place Melfort and 16 ahead of third-place Battlefords. Estevan being unable to close out the game was a blessing in disguise to the Yorkton Terriers, who would have been eliminated from playoff contention if the Bruins' goal counted.
If the standings hold to the end of the season, the Bruins would hang on to the SJHL's eighth-playoff seed - that would mean a potential first-round playoff matchup between Estevan and the Bombers for the third straight year, with the Bombers having home ice.
Flin Flon will play four of their remaining five games on the road, with three of those five games against teams that have clinched home-ice playoff advantage. The Bombers will head to Melfort March 6 before playing their final home game of the regular season March 8 against La Ronge. From there, the Bombers will play Nipawin on the road March 10, then end the regular season with a pair of road games in Humboldt March 15-16.
