The Swift Current Broncos (25-22-1-2) scored four straight goals in the third period, rallying from a 4-3 deficit after two periods to defeat the Brandon Wheat Kings (21-23-7-0) by a 7-5 score Tuesday night.
The Broncos had to weather a bit of an early storm as the Wheat Kings quickly jumped up out to a 4-0 advantage on the shot clock, but Joey Rocha stood tall to keep the game scoreless.
The Wheat Kings would take a 1-0 lead 8:10 into the game. Brett Hyland took a feed from Nate Danielson while racing through centre to create a three-on-one rush. Hyland skated into the left circle and fired a shot under Rocha’s glove to open the scoring.
The Broncos wasted no time getting back on even terms, however. Caleb Wyrostok sent the puck to the Brandon net and was stopped by Carson Bjarnason, but the rebound bounced right out in front of the net.
Brady Birnie’s stick was tied up as he made a bid for the rebound, but Grayson Burzynski was also heading to the net and was able to quickly snap a shot through the five hole of Bjarnason to tie the game at one just 45 seconds after Brandon took a 1-0 lead.
Swift Current went to the power play late in the period and took their first lead of the night. After the Wheat Kings inexplicably knocked a clearing attempt out of midair, Josh Filmon slid the puck down the Mathew Ward in the right circle and he beat Bjarnason over the blocker to make it 2-1.
The Broncos carried that lead into the intermission, with the shots 15-13 Wheat Kings.
The Broncos added to their lead with another power play goal in the middle frame. Wyrostok had the puck on the goal line and spotted Josh Davies skating down the slot. Davies took the feed and beat Bjarnson under the glove, pushing the Broncos lead to 3-1 8:20 into the period.
The game began to slip away from the Broncos two minutes later as the Wheat Kings scored their first power play goal. Danielson took a pass standing at the top of the left circle and beat Rocha under the glove through a screen, cutting the Broncos lead to 3-2.
A little over two minutes later the Wheat Kings scored another man advantage goal to tie the game. This time it was Hyland taking a pass off the rush and beating a screened Rocha for his second goal of the night.
Davies had a great chance to get the Broncos back in the lead with just over five minutes left in the period. Filmon forced a turnover at the Brandon blue line and found Davies heading down the slot to the net, but Davies was denied by Bjarnason as he tried to pull the puck to his backhand on the breakaway.
Late in the period the Wheat Kings went back to the power play and took the lead. Dawson Pasternak loaded up for a one timer from the left circle and gave Brandon a 4-3 lead with 54 seconds to go in the period.
The Broncos comeback started on the first shift of the third. Rocha came up with a massive stop on Calder Anderson as the Wheat Kings had an odd-man rush just seconds into the period.
After the save by Rocha, Connor Hvidston took off down the ice and rang a shot off the post. The rebound went right to Wyrostok and he cut across the slot before sliding the puck to Brady Birnie who was wide open at the back post, tying the game just 32 seconds into the third.
Three minutes later, Birnie had the puck below the Brandon goal line and banked it off Bjarnason’s mask and into the net, giving the Broncos a 5-4 lead with his 14th of the season.
Swift Current went back to the penalty kill at 7:05 of the third period, but it was the Broncos finding the back of the net. Hvidston stole the puck away from Danielson at the Broncos blue line and took off on a shorthanded breakaway, beating Bjarnason over the blocker to extend the lead to 6-4.
Four minutes later the Broncos offensive outburst was capped off by Filmon taking a centring feed from Davies and firing home his 33rd of the season, and 100th career point, to give the Broncos a 7-4 lead with 7:26 remaining.
Brandon pulled to within two as Swift Current native Anthony Wilson scored with 4:49 left in regulation. The Wheat Kings pulled Bjarnason for the extra attacker, but the Broncos withstood the pressure to win 7-5.
The win was the Broncos fifth this season when trailing after two periods, tying them with Victoria and Tri-City for the most in the WHL.
Swift Current now turns their attention to the WHL-leading Winnipeg ICE (40-7-1-0) Wednesday night. You can hear the game live on the Eagle 94.1 FM with Living Sky Casino Broncos Hockey starting with the pre-game show at 6:30pm.