For a good portion of their game Friday night at the Civic Centre, the Battlefords North Stars went toe to toe with the high-flying Melfort Mustangs on home ice.
Spencer Tremblay made key saves, the defence kept the Mustangs' opportunities to a minimum, and an energetic performance helped the North Stars to a 1-0 lead by the second period.
But it seemed like the North Stars let their foot off the gas after that, and the Mustangs capitalized.
Two goals in the second period, and three more in the third lifted the Mustangs to a 5-1 victory in a game much closer than the final score indicated.
Despite the result, coach Kevin Hasselberg was happy with the team's effort against the league-leading Mustangs.
"I thought with the roster we had and the effort we got from our players that we were right there with this team," said Hasselberg. "If anything, our guys should believe a little bit more heading down the stretch and into the playoffs that we are going to be cable of making some noise and upsetting some teams along the way."
The game started off with an energetic first period that saw no scoring. One particular highlight was goaltender Spencer Tremblay stuffing Justin Boyer's chance midway through the period, keeping it scoreless. Tremblay would also stop Adam Fauchoux on a breakaway in the second to keep the North Stars in it.
"Spencer was solid for 60 tonight," said Hasselberg. "His last three starts are exactly what we need them to be."
The North Stars scored the first goal of the game on the power play at 8:40 as Brady O'Sullivan scored his 11th with Baxter Kanter assisting.
But with Heinrich in the box for slashing the Mustangs had their opportunity to tie the game late in the second, and Tristan Frei capitalized at the 15:38 mark to make it 1-1. Boyer and Travis Mayan assisted.
Then a shot from the faceoff circle by Boyer beat Tremblay at 16:19, with Mayan and Fauchoux assisting, and the Mustangs headed off the ice after two periods with a 2-1 lead.
The North Stars kept it close with the Mustangs into the third period, but a backbreaking Andrew Durham goal at 8:49 made it a 3-1 score for the Mustangs and deflated the crowd of almost 1,000 fans at the game at the Civic Centre.
Another costly North Stars penalty, this one to Otto Mitchell for goaltender interference, led to another Mustangs power play goal from Mayan at 12:08 to make it 4-1.
The final goal was into the empty net by Regan Wilton at 16:25.
Despite being out scored in the third period the North Stars actually outshot the Mustangs 11-8 in the period. The overall shot count for the game favoured the Mustangs, though, 32-28.
Even if the North Stars had won the game, there would have been no change to their playoff positioning.
With Flin Flon winning 4-2 over Melville on Friday as well, any remaining hopes the seventh-seeded North Stars had of avoiding the Survivor Series in the playoffs were officially finished off.
Meanwhile, there is a four-team battle going on for the other three Survivor Series playoff spots. The next home game for the North Stars is next Friday against the Weyburn Red Wings, who are battling with Estevan, Humboldt and La Ronge for those final playoff spots.
"All these teams that we potentially face, we have come up against and we've had great games against them," said Hasselberg.
The goal now for the team is to get into a playoff rhythm.
"For us we've got to have fun and prepare each day as if it's our last day," Hasselberg said. "I think this is the time of the year that you've got to leave it all out there and make it the most enjoyable experience that you can."
