Make it eight straight - the Bombers ran roughshod over last-place Notre Dame Wednesday, beating the Hounds 5-1.
The route to the victory wasn't a linear one at first. All four of the Bombers' losses this year have come on the second leg of back-to-backs and early on, the Bombers seemed behind the eight-ball - down Carter Anderson, Adam McNutt and Riley Niven, who all played for Flin Flon Tuesday in Melville.
Notre Dame opened the scoring on a first-period powerplay, with Davis Sato knocking a puck past Kenny Marquart - the first goal the goalie had given up in 133:51 of game time, having two shutouts in his last two games.
The Bombers wouldn't be down for long, waiting for a powerplay of their own and seeing Anthony Bax blast one through traffic, past Johann Tremblay-Kau and into the net to tie it. Flin Flon would end up scoring five unanswered goals on the Hounds.
Not long after, despite having a man in the box, Justin Lies broke on through a porous Notre Dame defence not long after, went in on a breakaway and went five-hole on Tremblay-Kau to give Flin Flon a lead. Lies' goal was his fifth shorthanded goal and league-leading 33nd marker of the season - six SJHL teams have as many or less shorthanded goals this season than Lies has by himself.
The Hounds thought they had tied the game late in the third, with Cole Wirun getting a shot from point-blank range past Marquart, but the referees ruled it no-goal - the net came loose from its moorings not long before Wirun shot the puck. Flin Flon led 2-1 after the first.
Flin Flon started the second slowly, but increased the lead to 3-1, with Tyson Smith capitalizing on the rebound of a Bax point shot. Notre Dame had a few chances with danger, including one with seven minutes in the period where Carson Reagan - a family member of Bomber head coach and GM Mike Reagan - had an open net behind Marquart to shoot at, but the goalie robbed him blind.
Flin Flon had chances late, including a pair of shorthanded chances - none were successful and the maroon and white went into the third up 3-1.
The Bombers kept the puck mainly on the Hounds' side of the ice for much of the third. Bax was ejected from the game after catching Reagan with a high hit in the Bombers' zone, receiving a five-minute penalty for a headshot and putting Flin Flon down shorthanded for five minutes in the middle of the period.
Fortunately for the Bombers, the Hounds could not convert in a quarter of a period with a man up, despite several chances. Seven shots hit the Bomber net and Marquart saved all of them, with Cole Tanchuk potentially saved a goal with a big shot block late, while the Bombers' forecheck continued even down a man.
Almost immediately after the penalty wrapped up, the Bombers took advantage, with Matt Egan finding Jerome Gilbert at the side of the net on the rush to make it 4-1 - Gilbert scored his first as a Bomber, beating Tremblay-Kau at the side of the net. Anthony Piccininno then converted with a shot that took an odd bounce on its way to the net, then beating a confused Tremblay-Kau - 5-1, Bombers, the way the game would end.
Marquart got the win with 32 saves on the night, while Tremblay-Kau stopped 28 shots for the Hounds.
Flin Flon still sits first in the league, now extending their lead on second-place Battlefords to 10 points. The Bombers, sporting a 37-2-2-0 record, now have 76 points on the season. The Bombers now have as many wins as they did during all of last season, when they finished second in the league - the team still has 15 regular games left to play this year.
The Bombers' southern road swing will take a day off before a back-to-back over the weekend, first playing Weyburn Friday night and then facing Estevan Saturday.
