After catching fire two weeks ago, the Estevan Bruins are stumbling as they head into the final stretch leading to the playoffs.
The Estevan Bruins were outshot 15 to 3 in the first period against the Weyburn Red Wings, who eventually walked away with a 2-1 victory on Feb. 13 and handed the Bruins their third straight loss.
The Red Wings’ offensive onslaught in the first period provided them with their only two goals of the game, which was enough despite the Bruins’ late power play goal in the final frame.
Braden Mellon scored his 14th of the year and Stephen Ryan scored his ninth for the Red Wings.
“The overall effort was lacking,” said Bruins head coach Chris Lewgood, describing the effort as “OK.”
“At this point in the season, that won’t get you very far,” he said.
Tyler Fuhr had 36 saves for the Bruins. Jack Burgart stopped 25 shots in the shutout.
On Feb. 10 the Bruins travelled to Yorkton and faced off against the last place Terriers, who were on a two-game winning streak.
That winning streak increased to three games after defeating the Bruins by a score of 7-4.
Yorkton opened up the scoring in the first period as Jared Legien scored his first of the season on a power play chance. Riley Hunt assisted the goal.
Hunt continued to make plays throughout the night, notching four assists and two goals for a total of six points.
The game was close as the Terriers held a one-goal lead heading into the third period, but penalties hindered the Bruins ability to gain any momentum, amplified by Tyler Fuhr’s 10-minute misconduct, which was served by Mahlon Head.
Fuhr also received a two-minute penalty for slashing.
“(Tyler) was definitely frustrated,” Lewgood said. “There was a moment in the game when we needed to catch a break but it went the other way and instead we got into some penalty trouble.”
Lewgood said despite the frustrating stretch in the game, the team has to maintain its composure and respond to the adversity.
“We have to more disciplined,” he said.
Estevan tallied up a total of 40 penalty minutes, three of which the Terriers scored power play goals on.
A minor bright spot for the Bruins was their power play effort, as they went three for six, two of which were scored by Riley Woods.
Call-up Riley Woods, who was replacing an injured Lynnden Pastachak, scored twice for the Bruins, the first one coming off a power play effort in the second, assisted by Kurt Sonne and Nolan Nicholas.
“Every time he’s played for us this year he has been fantastic,” Lewgood said. “He filled in admirably for us and cashed in on some opportunities.”
Unfortunately for the Bruins, Yorkton was a solid three for six on the power play, a statistic that proved to be the deciding factor in the win.
Shots on goal were close, but Yorkton had a slight edge with 43, while Estevan had 36.
As the end of the season draws near, Lewgood stressed the importance remaining composed and assisting the players any way they can to keep them focused on winning games.
“It’s easy to tell them what they have to do, but we need to be there and assist them whenever we can,” he said. “It’s a bump on the road and I think we’ll come out of it fine in this final stretch.”
