The CanElson Drilling Estevan Bruins were held off the board for only the second time all season on Saturday, dropping a 2-0 decision to the Kindersley Klippers.
The loss came two days after the Bruins had their way with the Notre Dame Hounds in a 5-1 victory. Both games were played at Affinity Place.
The Bruins had problems at both ends of the ice on Saturday as they were unable to match the Klippers' strong performance.
"The trouble starts deep in our zone, where we were having a tough time with their cycle and just weren't doing a good job with making strong defensive zone plays," said Bruins head coach Chris Lewgood. "Any time you're battling in your D-zone, you're tired come time to make that transition into the offensive zone. I think our troubles were more defensive than offensive, even though we didn't score any goals."
Among the team's struggles was puck movement in their own end.
"It's just poor decision-making and not strong enough on 1-on-1 battles," Lewgood said. "I thought our defence didn't have a very good game tonight. I thought our most reliable defencemen were a little unreliable. Everybody has bad games throughout the course of the season and tonight just seemed to be several guys in that situation. We just didn't seem to be making the right decisions at times with the puck and it cost us."
Cody Thiel scored both Kindersley goals.
The first came with less than two minutes left in the second period when Marc Dubeau found him in the slot with a spectacular pass from the corner. Thiel added another goal late in the third.
The first period was full of fireworks, as hits by Bruins forwards Ben Johnstone and Corey Kosloski sparked tempers, and in the case of the latter, a fight between Bruins defenceman Nick Egan and Klippers forward Sean Naish.
It was Egan's fifth fight of the season, which earned him a one-game suspension under the Junior A Supplement.
Johnstone was ejected for a hit that was deemed charging. Lewgood took issue with that interpretation, noting that Johnstone didn't leave his feet and glided into the hit.
He added that the first period was his team's best of the night.
"I thought we took the play to them physically. I thought we were the better team in the first period. I think our guys were out executing our game plan and we were not rewarded for it."
The Klippers outshot the Bruins heavily in the second period and dominated the play at times, but only came away with one goal, as Bruins starter Matt Gibney made some big saves.
"Gibney is Gibney. He was great. He was our best player. You expect your 20-year-old goaltender to do that for you," Lewgood said. "He gets a ton of credit within the room, maybe not enough credit outside of the room. Too many guys look at numbers and don't spend the time on the actual facts. Gibney's one of the best players in the league and he proved it again tonight."
Shots on goal were 42-27 for the Klippers.
Defenceman R.T. Rice aggravated an ankle injury during the second period. The ankle won't heal until the off-season and he will be a game-time decision each night as to whether he can handle playing.
On Thursday, meanwhile, the Bruins scored four unanswered goals to pull away from the Hounds.
Johnstone struck first blood midway through the second period, taking a feed from Michael Sagen and putting it into a yawning cage.
Ian Williams tied the game midway through the second, jamming the puck past Bruins goalie Brett Lewchuk on a power play. Bruins winger
Austin Daae countered just seven seconds later though with a five-hole shot.
Sagen tipped a David Robertson shot home later in the period on a power play to put the Bruins on top 3-1.
Estevan captain Tanner Froese added two goals barely three minutes apart in the third, tapping in a pinpoint pass from Daae on the first and popping in a rebound on the second.
The Hounds outshot the Bruins 38-31.
The Bruins visited the Melville Millionaires last night and will host the Battlefords North Stars on Friday (7:30 p.m., Affinity Place) before heading to Melville again on Tuesday.
