The Swift Current Broncos win streak is now up to six games in a row after a 4-3 overtime victory over the Medicine Hat Tigers on Saturday night in Medicine Hat.
The win gave the Broncos a two-win weekend over their rivals and are now just three points behind for the Central Division lead.
Broncos Assistant Coach Regan Darby said it wasn’t their best game of the season, but they found a way to win, and they did a good job against a Medicine Hat team that was looking to respond after a loss on Friday night.
“I felt like we weathered the storm,” Darby said. “Sometimes you come into a road game and you, for some reason just can’t get it going and I felt like that was the way with us tonight for us tonight, but positive is we won in overtime. We’ve had trouble pulling points away in overtime and we were able to do that tonight.”
Connor Hvidston’s 24th goal of the year was the overtime winner if this one as he won it for the Broncos just over a minute into the extra frame.
To get the that point, the game was tightly contested all throughout as it was tied after one period with goals from Conor Geekie for the Broncos and Gavin McKenna for the Tigers. The Broncos though would take the lead in the second, even with the Tigers taking the lead with a goal from Nate Corbet before Mat Ward and Luke Mistelbacher each scored to make it 3-2 Broncos after two.
An exciting third period saw each team fire 13 shots each, with only one going in as Hunter St. Martin scored for Medicine Hat to tie the game 3-3 just over two minutes into the period. The teams went back and forth after that to lead into overtime where Hvidston sent the Bronco fans – who travelled to Medicine Hat in droves – home happy.
Darby added that he believes this can help the team build confidence on the road heading down the stretch.
“We’ve struggled on the road,” he said. “We’ve challenged the guys to be better and prepare better going into road games and I feel like any time you can get a road win, especially playing the night before you come in here and maybe a little bit tired from the travel. But, nonetheless, we found a way and hopefully that helps us down the stretch here in some harder road games.”
Reid Dyck stopped 29 of 32 in the victory tonight, while the Broncos fired 37 shots towards Tiger netminder Zach Zahara. The Broncos powerplay was 0-for-4, and the penalty kill was 1-for-2.
The Broncos will be back on the road for a pair of games on Friday and Saturday next week in Red Deer and Edmonton.