After earning their second straight shutout with a win over the Humboldt Broncos, the CanElson Drilling Estevan Bruins blew a chance to beat a tired, fifth-place La Ronge Ice Wolves club on Sunday.
The Bruins blanked the second-place Broncos 3-0 on Friday and lost 6-3 to the Wolves in an afternoon game on Saturday. Both were played at Spectra Place.
Combined with a 2-0 win over another top team in the Notre Dame Hounds on Dec. 4, the Bruins appeared to be getting on a roll after the Humboldt win and that continued into Saturday's game when the team took a 2-0 lead 13 minutes into the second period after Tanner Froese scored on a rebound off a Tyler Kauk point shot.
However, the Wolves scored on the next shift, only 21 seconds later, courtesy of Graham Smerek to take away some of the Bruins' steam.
"Obviously it was a momentum changer. It was a poor play at the blue line, we turn the puck over and it ended up in the back of our net. We expect more mental toughness out of our guys than that, especially after a shift where we take a 2-0 lead," said Bruins head coach and general manager Keith Cassidy.
Matt Brykaliuk had given the Bruins the lead at 4:31 of the first period, burying a loose puck in the crease moments after a big save by Curtis Martinu at the other end.
Cassidy said the Bruins weren't good right from the start of the second period.
"That first shift was a bit of an indicator of the rest of the period. We did a lot of standing around and watching," he said. "They came out and worked hard, they wanted to get back in the game. We survived that and got the two-goal lead. But the first thing to go when you're tired is your brain and we weren't able to battle through that."
La Ronge (12-17-0-3), who played the Hounds in Watrous the night before, would grab the lead before the end of the second period.
Only 74 seconds after Smerek's goal, Brett Hope tied the game, marking three goals in a span of less than two minutes.
Former Bruin forward Brandon Halbgewachs, who had joined the Ice Wolves earlier in the week, scored against his old team at the 18:31 mark, jamming a rebound past Martinu.
The Wolves took a 3-2 lead into the intermission.
Early in the third period, it appeared that Bruins centre Hudson Morrison may have scored, but referee Graig Whitehead ruled that the puck did not completely cross the goal line.
Cassidy was not happy about the call.
"Here's the explanation from the official: there was a quarter of an inch of the puck that was not across the goal line. How he saw a quarter of an inch of the puck not across the goal line, I'm not sure. That certainly hurt us. You'd expect to get a bit of a better break in your own rink, but we didn't. That hurt us," he said.
Froese scored his second of the afternoon midway through the period to tie the game.
Whitehead became the centre of attention again at the 15:35 mark when, with several Wolves players crowding the crease and Martinu knocked into the net, Sebastien Beauregard scored and the goal was allowed. It would stand as the game-winner.
Brett McNevin would add some insurance three minutes later on a pinpoint shot off the post and in. Smerek scored an empty netter with 1:11 remaining.
Although there were two controversial goal situations, there were no penalties handed out from start to finish.
Cassidy said the Bruins need to stop playing to the level of their opponents.
"The upper-echelon teams bring out a better team in us and we've gotta get to the point where we can play at that level on our own, so we don't have incidents like (Saturday)," he said.
On Friday, the Bruins shut down the second-place Broncos despite being outshot 33-16.
Martinu earned his second straight shutout, after stopping 42 shots against the Hounds three days earlier.
"That's my job, right? Stop pucks. I gotta bear down, focus up and take on every shot I can and give my boys a chance to win," said Martinu.
"They were letting me see the puck and clearing rebounds. I got a little lucky (with Humboldt) hitting the post a couple of times, but I guess that's just the goalie gods with me."
Brykaliuk opened the scoring six minutes in, taking a pass from Cole Olson on a 2-on-1 and beating Broncos goalie Matt Hrynkiw glove side.
The Bruins killed off an extended 5-on-3 later in the period and escaped with a 1-0 lead, despite being outshot 14-4.
"He's done what we've expected him to do and he elevated his game (Friday). He knows we need a little bit of confidence that way and he stepped up his game. The guys, in turn, feel comfortable out there to try some things and I think it works out both ways," said Cassidy.
Olson gave the Bruins a cushion four minutes into the third period, knocking in the rebound of a Brett Blatz point shot on the power play.
Wyatt Garagan added an empty-netter with 23 seconds left.
The Bruins (10-16-2), who fell back to fifth place in the Sherwood Conference after Saturday's loss, were set to host the Yorkton Terriers last night. They will visit Yorkton on Saturday.
The team's last game before the Christmas break is Tuesday when they host the Melville Millionaires. Game time is 7:30 p.m.
