In a game that was more likely to lull you to sleep than bring you out of your seat, a highlight reel goal by Tyler Paslawski in overtime gave the Bruins a 4-3 comeback win over the Melfort Mustangs.
The Mustangs appeared to be headed for victory when Dylan Smith tied it up with 26 seconds remaining with his second goal of the night.
Then 2:08 into overtime, with both teams changing, Austin Yano hit Paslawski with a beauty of a stretch pass. Paslawski flew down the right side, cut in for a breakaway and beat Jesse Wilkins five-hole to end it. It was his first goal at home since being traded to the Bruins.
It had been mostly a snoozefest of a game, with neither team looking all that impressive. As Keith Cassidy said, you could tell it was the last game before Christmas.
Melfort's Brendan Tash opened the scoring with a power play goal less than eight minutes in and that lead stood up after one period.
Smith tied it 3:33 into the second when Wilkins lunged out at a loose puck and got caught out of position. After a few whacks, Smith ended up putting it in. But Landon Belchamber put the Mustangs ahead a minute later, scoring from between the circles.
At the 13-minute mark, Smith hit Josh Jelinski with a centering pass from the right side. Jelinski's first shot was stopped, but he went for the rebound and knocked it in while falling down to tie the game again.
With 2:58 left in the game, moments after a scramble in front where Steven Glass got knocked around, Matt Saunderson's low point shot found the back of the net to put the visitors ahead again.
The Bruins struggled to get much going after that and it looked like they would go into the break on a losing note. But Smith buried a shot from the slot with 26 seconds left to force overtime.
Tanner Froese missed the game with a one-game suspension he picked up after an incident in Nipawin last Sunday. Calder Neufeld was a healthy scratch - more on that in the interview below with Keith.
This was not one of the Bruins' better outings this season, but the important thing is they got the win and now head into the break coming off a four-point weekend. Their record of 20-18-0-1 has them one point ahead of Yorkton and four ahead of Melville, although they have four and five games in hand, respectively.
This will likely be the last blog post before I head home to PEI, so have a merry Christmas, everyone. Here are your post-game interviews:
Keith Cassidy Dec. 17 by lewis94
Tyler Paslawski Dec. 17 by lewis94
