The CanElson Drilling Estevan Bruins were unable to generate any offence on Saturday night as they were downed by the Yorkton Terriers 6-0.
The loss came after a midweek game against the Terriers on home ice in which the Bruins came out on top.
While he wasn't entirely disappointed by the team's road performance on the weekend, head coach Keith Cassidy said the difference between those two games was the Bruins' play in front of their own net.
The Bruins played good back-and-forth hockey to start, but were unable to bury any of their early chances.
"We came out strong the first 10 to 12 minutes of the game," said Cassidy. "Again, that ugly thing about us not scoring kind of bit us."
That has been the story of Estevan's season so far. With the Bruins unable to capitalize, Yorkton eventually buried an opening goal in the middle of the first off a flurry of activity in front of Steven Glass, who was starting his second game of the year between the pipes after returning from an injury.
"We had sustained pressure at times, but it just seemed like every time they came down, they scored," said Cassidy. "They were capitalizing on their chances. What we did the other night is we were making sure there were no second chances, we didn't as good a job as that up in Yorkton."
He said five of Yorkton's six tallies were off rebounds.
"That just speaks to being alert in front of our net, bearing down and making sure we're clearing those. When we give them those second opportunities, they're not going to miss."
Yorkton got out of the period with a 2-0 lead, stretching that to 4-0 at the end of the second. Yorkton scored their fourth with just 23 seconds left in the period, giving the Bruins a tough hill to climb in the third.
Cassidy noted they were allowing some goals because of simple mental errors.
"(There was one goal) where again, we didn't pick up a guy, and it's a simple thing," he said. "I think guys are getting frustrated with that. We work this hard, and then a simple breakdown ends up in our net."
The mental side of the game is a hurdle the team is still trying to overcome, said the coach.
"They see how well we can play when everything is going our way. You see it when we're playing well, everybody's confident, and even if something does go wrong, we've had some pretty good push back of late. I think we're getting better at that," added Cassidy. "There is a sense of urgency there and I think, really up in Yorkton it was just frustrating for everybody to see us work that hard, not get rewarded and then see the puck in the back of our net. That speaks to our focus and our ability to maintain our confidence."
As of Monday, the Bruins sat in fifth place of the Sherwood Division with an 11-17-2 record.
On Dec. 11, Glass was back on blue ice for his season debut. It was a long road back from knee surgery in the summer, but the second-year Bruin had a big night, recording 44 saves.
Neither his knee nor his time away from competitive hockey seemed to have much of an impact.
"The knee's great. It was always in the back of my mind, but I think it kinda made me focus up a bit," said Glass after the game. "I didn't rely on it, I just kept my head in the game and used that to keep focused."
The Bruins were handily outshot throughout the game, but there were few good scoring chances, and Glass controlled the rebounds well.
"I think having it be my first game back, seeing a lot of rubber right away got me settled back in there," he said. "The heart was racing. I was just really focused on kicking my rebounds to the corners and being able to feel a bit of rubber first."
Glass got some help up front early after a shot by Dayton Picard was blocked and kicked to Taylor Reich. The Bruins forward buried it for his third of the season.
That score held until the third period when Glass was beaten top corner by Kailum Gervais early in the final frame.
Nick Weiss gave the Bruins back their lead at the midway point of the third, and Darcy DeRoose stretched the lead to 3-1 with just five minutes left in the game.
Just 40 seconds later, however, a rebound bounced off a fallen Bruins' defenceman and slid past Glass. After a brief consultation with his linesman, the referee called it a good goal, awarded to Derek Falloon.
With the Terriers' goalie pulled, the Bruins withstood the attack and Hudson Morrison notched an empty-netter with just four seconds remaining, closing the game at 4-2.
The Bruins were on the ice in Carlyle Tuesday night as they hosted the Melville Millionaires. Results from that game were unavailable as of press time.
With a break until the game against Weyburn on Dec. 30, Cassidy said he's hoping the time off will do the team some good.
"I want them to take some time away from the rink, spend it with their families and just come back refreshed and ready to attack the second half of the season."
