The Terriers played twice at home this week, winning both contests at the Farrell Agencies Arena to push their early season Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League record to 3-1.
Sunday evening it was the Estevan Bruins who served up the competition in a game which was all about offence.
The teams traded first period goals, Kyle McLeod scoring first for Yorkton with Calder Neufeld responding for the Bruins.
Tanner Froese gave the Bruins a 2-1 lead in the second with a powerplay goal, but Jeremy Johnson responded with a Terrier powerplay marker in the final minute of the frame to tie the game 2-2.
In the third, the floodgates opened as Ryon Sookro, Curtis Oliver and Justin Lamontagne scored in the first 10-minutes to establish a 5-2 Terrier lead.
Neufeld, Dylan Smith and Cole Olson responded for Estevan to again knot the score.
The Terriers then used the powerplay to salt away the 7-5 win, Sookro scoring his second, and Jamie Vlanich adding the game winner, an unassisted effort.
Warren Shymko had the win in the Terrier net, facing 35-shots.
Johnson said the Terrier offence is starting to come around.
"We've got a lot of good young talent," he said, adding on offence things have clicked well early, including his line with McLeod and Oliver.
"They're good guys, great to work with," he said. "Both are quick, fast guys like me." Johnson said hopefully the trio keeps being productive. "Hopefully we'll put up some big numbers."
Terrier head coach Trent Cassan said the line has clicked well, with Johnson scoring and led by veteran McLeod, who has "really shown improvement in his game," and that has manifested as added confidence.
Oliver has been one of the team's most consistent players through camp and into the season, added Cassan. "He's pretty good in the tough places."
As for his own expectations to score as a Terrier Johnson said "you want to go out and score as many goals as you can for the team."
Asked about the Terrier powerplay, Johnson said they were "able to get down low," and generate shots on goal off the effort.
Shymko said the third period showed the Terriers are "a pretty resilient group." He added as many changes as there are on the team they have "young guys stepping up."
As for his own play, Shymko said he'd like a couple of rebounds back in the third period. "I was a little juicy tonight," he admitted adding "but you learn from that."
While Shymko said he felt bad for the team letting the Bruins back into the game by letting the rebounds out for goals, but added his team bailed him out getting the late goals for the win.
Cassan said while Shymko might want one or two rebounds back, he's enough of a veteran to grow from that, adding he has "given us a chance to win some close games," already this season.
Cassan said while there were things to work on from the game, "two points any time of the year is big to get."
While Cassan said the team talked about some things that needed to be addressed the Terriers "showed some good character," winning the game late after letting the Bruins score three-in-a-row to tie the score.
The Terrier powerplay was the difference Sunday, and Cassan said the team has played well with the man advantage so far this season in spite of not spending a lot of time on it in practice.
"One of the reasons why is because guys are moving their feet," he said, adding on powerplays players "tend to stand around watching one another." When players keep moving it tends to draw defensive players to them, opening up ice for the extra man, added the Terrier coach.
The Terriers have also stayed out of the sin bin for the most part this season which is another advantage, said Cassan.
When killing penalties teams get out of their rhythm, especially with a team like the Terriers who prefer to roll four lines, he said.
Last Wednesday the Flin Flon Bombers were at the Farrell Agencies Arena. Sixty-minutes of regulation, and five-minutes of four-on-four overtime were not enough to decide a winner. The decision was finally determined in a shoot-out, with the Terriers coming out on top of the 4-3 decision.
Devon McMullen started the scoring for Yorkton on the powerplay at 18:04 of the first, only to have Jay Young tie the game 26 seconds later.
The second frame saw Curtis Oliver and Jeremy Johnson score unanswered goals for Yorkton to give the Terriers a 3-1 lead.
The Bombers responded with two unanswered third period goals of their own to force overtime and the shoot-out. Cameron Blair and Brett Penner recorded the goals.
In the shoot-out all three Terrier shooters scored, while Yorkton goaltender Kamil Przepiorka made one save in three to get the win in his first regular season SJHL start. He had made 28 saves on 31 shots in the game.
Cassan said his rookie goaltender was steady in his opening start.
"You could kind of see early on his composure," adding he didn't show much nervousness in the game.
"He looked calm and collected in there."
Up next
The Terriers are off to the far north on the weekend, playing in LaRonge Friday and Saturday.
The Terriers then host Weyburn at the Farrell Agencies Tuesday before going back on the road to play Melfort next Wednesday.
