Friday's game won't be one the Bombers like looking back on. Flin Flon got thumped by the league-leading Melfort Mustangs on the road, losing 5-0.
The Mustangs got out to an early lead, barely a minute and a half in, courtesy of Zayden Sadlemyer - he got a long wrister past Kieper that the normally-stingy Bomber netminder would have likely wanted back.
The Bombers' luck would stay lousy later in the frame, with the team going down shorthanded after Landon Alexander nailed Melfort's Bryson Aikens with a knee-on-knee hit. That check not only sent Aikens sprawled out to the ice - it also sent Flin Flon's Rhett Ewen to the ice hurt too, as Aikens' leg would swing around after impact and catch Ewen. Both players were able to get up from the ice on their own power, the Bombers would kill off the penalty and the band played on. The Bombers got their own powerplay chance when Sadlemyer gave Koen Senft a crosscheck while he was down on the ice, but they could not convert and Flin Flon was down 1-0 after the opening 20.
In each of their meetings in Melfort this season, the Bombers' chances have falled apart in the second period. That trend stopped Friday to some extent, but the team couldn't make good on a prime chance to tie things up. After getting tripped up on a clear breakaway, Ryder Ringor got a chance with a penalty shot, but couldn't get his move past Mustangs goalie Kristian Coombs.
The big hits kept on coming, with the Mustangs' Ashton Hutchinson and Reilley Kotai both burying Cole Tanchuk into the boards from behind. Tanchuk got back up, Kotai got called for the hit and Flin Flon got a powerplay, but not only were they unable to convert from it, they gave up a backbreaking shorthanded goal to Bo Eisner off a rare odd-man-shorthanded rush. Flin Flon outshot the Mustangs through two periods, but were still down 2-0 entering the third.
Hutchison put the Mustangs up three mere seconds into the third, driving to the net and popping the puck past Kieper. The Bombers pressed to get on the board, but no chances seemed to get through to Coombs, either missing nets or being blocked.
The Mustangs piled it on in the final few minutes, with Owen Nelson getting the final touch on a loose puck in front of Kieper, then with Sadlemyer digging in near Kieper after an Ashton Paul rush to get the final result. Melfort's Zach Turner got tossed late, but the Mustangs left their home ice with glee, while the Bombers headed back home hoping for a better showing Saturday.
Coombs got the shutout with 28 saves, while Kieper took his first regulation loss since joining the Bombers last fall, making 21 saves.
With the loss, the Bombers stay in second in the league standings with 72 points, while Melfort increases its lead atop the Bombers to 83 points. With an 11-point gap between the Bombers and Mustangs and Flin Flon having six regular-season games left, the Mustangs can clinch a regular season title by earning just two points between now and the end of the season, or if the Bombers give up two points for the rest of the regular season. Either of those can happen at the Whitney Forum Saturday night, where the Bombers host Melfort in a battle of the titans.
Flin Flon needs four points to clinch second-place in the league, with Weyburn now third with 64 points - eight down on the Bombers - with six games left. The Bombers can't cleanly clinch second in the league Saturday, but if Weyburn drops four points in their final six games, Flin Flon will clinch at least a tiebreaker even if they end the season on a losing skid.
