Three straight wins - the Bombers are back on a winning streak, defeating Yorkton 4-0 at home.
Flin Flon took control in the early second period and never let up, giving the Bombers their league-leading 32nd win of the season.
The Bomber offence generated many chances early, but for the second straight night, Yorkton netminder Adam Kelly was up to the task. Neither team got their offence going in the first, with Yorkton getting one of the best chances - a two-on-none with Jye Zawatsky and Colton Koran, stopped in its tracks by Bomber goalie Kenny Marquart.
Tempers still flared at times, with a few scrapes after the whistle, including a big blow-up near the end of the period. Four players - Flin Flon's Carter Anderson and Riley Niven and Yorkton's Ashtyn Shields and Quintin Unreiner - received two-minute penalties and 10-minute misconducts for acting up. All four would stay into the box well into the second period, including more time than scheduled - it appeared the officials forgot they were in there, finally freeing them with six minutes left in the period.
Flin Flon braved an early 4-on-3 in the second period and came out the other side unscathed, almost opening the scoring shortly after with a powerplay chance of their own - Alexi Sylvestre had a chance in close, but Kelly kept up his old tricks, robbing the forward blind in the crease.
It was a point shot that would open the scoring for the Bombers, with Anthony Bax teeing off with a slapper that Kelly saved but couldn't stop, leaking between his pads and into the net. Anthony Piccininno was credited with the marker, making it 1-0.
After a slew of penalties in the mid-second, Justin Lies got on the board for Flin Flon on a powerplay, banging home a loose rebound on Kelly - good enough for Lies to become the first SJHLer to hit 30 goals this season.
Bax extended that lead later in the frame, coming in on a three-on-one with Anderson and Jerome Gilbert, keeping, firing and scoring, beating Kelly glove-side. Flin Flon's offence went full-speed in the first two periods, putting the equivalent of a shot per minute on Kelly - the goalie did his best to keep the score 3-0 after 40 minutes. Noah Houle and Yorkton's Jaxon Sperling got into a brief skirmish at the end of the period, but not quite enough for the refs to judge it a fight - both players came back for the third.
With the Bombers getting a powerplay out of the fight, Flin Flon struck quickly. Another goalmouth scramble saw the puck squirt out to the left side, leaving a wide-open Anthony to go Bax-to-back, scoring his second goal and third point of the night, making it 4-0 Flin Flon early in the third.
That chippy undercurrent would continue with another late scrum near the net, with Sylvestre coming together with Yorkton's Anthony McIntosh and bringing in league penalty minute leader Dalton Mayes - back in the lineup this weekend after serving a six-game suspension - to share polite words. Once the dust settled, Mayes was booted from the game for his role in the mischief, taking a five-minute major for a headshot on Sylvestre.
With the result more or less already decided, both teams played out the string, with the Bombers heading forward to two more points and extending their lead in the league standings.
Earlier this year, Marquart was pulled against Yorkton after giving up three quick first-period goals. The netminder learned from his earlier mistakes, earning his third shutout of the season and making 41 saves to do it. Kelly made 51 saves on the day, making 87 saves in just two games against Flin Flon this weekend.
The win gives the Bombers 66 points on the season, seven points clear of second-place Battlefords, who have played two more games. The Bombers and the Stars will face off for the first time this season on the road next week. The games will be both a rematch of the last year's SJHL final and a face-off between the SJHL's two top teams.
Melfort sits third in the league standings with 55 points in 40 games, four more than the Bombers and 11 points back.
