Things went south fast for the Flin Flon Bombers, who went from a 3-1 early lead to a 8-4 loss to Melfort Saturday night.
Flin Flon came out of the gate hot in the first period, with Daylan Marchi opening the scoring barely two minutes into the game. Jake Hobson got the Mustangs on the board seconds later, but goals from Donavan Houle-Villeneuve and Nate Hooper gave the Bombers a two-goal lead.
Late in the first, the Mustangs started the comeback. Colin Schmidt scored to cut the lead to one. Then, Schmidt opened the second period with two more goals, giving Melfort a 4-3 lead after a natural hat trick. Alex Rondeau banged one home for the 'Stangs late in the second.
Schmidt lit the lamp again in the third, giving him four goals on the night and Melfort's fifth straight goal, making it 6-3 Melfort.
Caleb Moretz stopped the bleeding for a short time with a goal for the Bombers, but George King answered back for Melfort shortly after. Zach Anderson capped the rout with a shorthanded goal around the ten-minute mark.
The third period was filled with rough-housing, with three separate fights late in the third. Bomber defenceman Ryder Richmond squared off with Kyle Schneider, followed by another fight between Chrystopher Collin and Melfort's Kayle Tosh. After Tosh took Collin down to the ice, Collin got back up and caught Tosh with a surprise shot that knocked him to the ice.
Rondeau and Vaughan Bamford fought with seconds left on the clock to end a night the Bombers may want to forget.
Gabriel Waked was charged with the loss in the Bomber net, giving up six goals on 28 shots. Jacob Delorme was put in the crease early in the third in relief.
The Bomber loss pushes them down below Melfort in the league and Sherwood Division standings. Melfort snagged second place in the division with 64 points with the win, one point ahead of Flin Flon. Each team has nine games left on the season.
The Bombers will play their next four games on the road, going on a southern road swing with playoff ramifications next week through Humboldt, Weyburn, Estevan and Notre Dame.
