Dylan Smith and Alex Cote combined for nine points, and the CanElson Drilling Estevan Bruins came from behind to defeat the Melfort Mustangs 6-3 on Saturday at Spectra Place.
Smith scored four goals, Cote had four assists and the Bruins scored five unanswered tallies to earn their third victory in four games.
With the win, the Bruins (17-24-3) moved into a tie for fourth place with the Kindersley Klippers, with two games in hand, entering last night's home game against Yorkton.
Smith, who now has nine goals and 16 points in nine games since his return to Estevan, said spirits are high with the Bruins raising their play down the stretch.
"I've never really been part of a dressing room that's so fired up after a win. It's really nice," he said.
Bruins head coach Keith Cassidy told Smith before the game that he would score four goals - and the right winger could have had more, with several other scoring chances.
"He called me into his office to give me a stick and asked me how many (goals) I've got in it and I said three, and he said, 'No, I think you've got four,'" Smith said of the prophetic chat.
But the evening didn't start on a promising note for the Bruins, who fell behind 3-1 to the fifth-place Mustangs after the first period.
"We knew we didn't have a good period. It's nothing we were concerned about. We know we didn't get enough shots on net in that first period," said Smith. "After that, we just came in, sat down and said, 'Calm down a little bit.' We've got a lot of veteran guys in there, so it's easy to calm the guys down."
Five minutes in, Jamie Miller got credit for Melfort's first goal when the puck ricocheted off defenceman Zach Douglas and in.
Midway through the period, with the Mustangs on a 5-on-3 power play, Godric Tham sent a shot over the shoulder of goalie Curtis Martinu from the side of the net.
"Our first period tonight obviously wasn't our best period, but a couple of fluky things happened. We score on our own net and then we go down 5-on-3 on some interesting calls," said Cassidy.
Three minutes later, at the 13:34 mark, Smith took a stretch pass from Leighton McLachlan to set up a breakaway and deked goalie Patrick Johnson on his backhand to get the Bruins on the board.
With less than three minutes to play, Brandon Sloan's wrister found its way past a Bruin defenceman and past Martinu to make it 3-1.
The Bruins bounced back with a dominant second period though, beginning five minutes in when Johnson made a reflex pad save on a long shot, only for the rebound to kick out to Matt Brykaliuk for an easy goal.
With one minute left in the period, McLachlan made a diving play to break up a Melfort 2-on-1, leading to a rush the other way that ended with Smith's shot appearing to deflect off Hudson Morrison and in.
"I think for Mac, that was one of his best games of the year right there. He was confident, he made the simple plays, he stepped up when he had the opportunity to and just played with confidence," said Cassidy.
Smith gave his club its first lead two minutes into the third period, when he buried a rebound blocker side on the power play.
He would finish off the hat trick less than three minutes later.
"I can't even give myself most of the credit. The guys I'm playing with just put me in great positions to score and our d-men, too, are getting the puck to the net and getting me rebounds," said Smith.
"I could've probably had five or six if I would have put a couple more chances in, but it's nice to get the ones I got. I think our line's dominating enough that we have chances to have games like this till the end of the season."
Smith's fourth goal came on an empty netter with 13 seconds left.
The Bruins outshot the Mustangs 47-35.
Smith said it was important for his team to grab the win over Melfort after losing all three previous meetings to them, including a well-played overtime loss on Jan. 19.
"We dominated them all of last game (on Jan. 19). (Saturday's win) shows that we can put the puck in the net. We struggled in Melfort, but (Johnson) played out of his head, he stood on his head the whole night in Melfort. We just need to keep battling and get to the good areas to score goals. It'll come," he said.
Cassidy added that the Bruins had to seize the opportunity against a sub-.500 team, especially after the Mustangs lost to Weyburn the previous night.
"I think it was mandatory to get this game. That team, in our building, after losing to Weyburn (on Friday), there's no way we could walk out of here without the two points."
He also noted a difference in the team's psyche when trailing, compared to earlier this season.
"The guys were working hard before, but maybe we didn't believe that we could come back from a 3-1 deficit before. We've done it once or twice now and guys are starting to believe that we can do it and that we can be in every game. A little bit of belief goes a long way."
