The Swift Current Broncos (12-11-0-0) battled back from a 3-1 deficit in the second period and then held off a strong push by the Winnipeg ICE (22-4-0-0) for a 4-3 win Friday night.
The Broncos had a very strong start to Friday’s game, outshooting and outplaying the ICE in the early going. That led to Swift Current scoring the opening goal of the night.
Some strong forechecking by the Broncos led to Connor Gabriel getting the puck in the slot and sending it toward the net. Josh Filmon stopped the puck in front of the net before it got to Hauser and quickly spun off to his left before lifting a shot over the right pad of the Winnipeg goaltender, giving the Broncos a 1-0 lead.
The lead lasted for a little over three minutes before Winnipeg tied the game. Off a faceoff win in the Broncos zone, Matthew Savoie picked up the loose puck, cut across the slot and fired a shot past a screened Reid Dyck to tie the game at one.
The ICE continued to push over the remainder of the period and eventually took the lead. After the puck was turned over in the Broncos zone, Skyler Bruce centred from the goal line for Owen Pederson and he fired a shot over the shoulder of Dyck with 56 seconds remaining in the first period.
Winnipeg carried the 2-1 lead into the intermission with the Broncos outshooting the ICE 13-10.
The ICE then added to their lead 3;10 into the second period while on the power play. The puck was caught up in skates before popping free right to Carson Lambos in the slot. He quickly snapped a shot over Dyck’s glove, putting Winnipeg up 3-1.
The Broncos responded almost immediately to get the goal back. Luke Mistelbacher stole the puck from a Winnipeg defenceman and then hooked it down low for Clarke Caswell who was behind the defence. Caswell came in on Daniel Hauser and fired a shot past his blocker, cutting the lead to 3-2 just 26 seconds after Lambos’s goal.
Swift Current had two power plays after the goal and capitalized on the second one. Owen Pickering took a pass at the blue line and fired a long wrist shot through traffic, beating a screened Hauser to tie the game with his fourth goal of the season.
Six minutes later the Broncos took the lead for good. Mathew Ward had the puck in the high slot and threw it along the ice toward the net. Raphael Pelletier was heading to the crease and laid his blade down flat, ramping the puck off his stick and into the net to restore the Broncos lead with 3:23 to go in the second.
From that point on the Broncos locked things down defensively, and Dyck turned aside every Winnipeg chance to keep his team on top. That included a few stops on a Winnipeg power play with five minutes to go in regulation.
Hauser went to the Winnipeg bench with 2:15 remaining, and the Broncos iced the puck numerous times to slowly chip away at the time on the clock. The final faceoff came with two and a half seconds left, and Caleb Wyrostok slapped the puck of out of the zone to secure the win.
Friday was the first time the Broncos had won in Winnipeg since the ICE moved to Manitoba. Swift Current now looks for a four-game winning streak Saturday night as they take on the Brandon Wheat Kings (9-15-2-0) at Westoba Place. You can catch the game on the Eagle 94.1 FM with Living Sky Casino Broncos Hockey starting at 6:30pm.