Carter Cormier delivered in the shootout as the Bombers beat the SJHL's top team, 2-1 in extra time.
Melfort clinched at least a tie of the regular season points lead, but the Bombers got the last laugh, staging a late comeback and finishing it with their first shootout win of the year.
Flin Flon made an early push, but a Keefe Gruener penalty gave Melfort a powerplay and they took full advantage. Ashton Paul, who played for the Bombers before being traded away last season, snuck into the zone, turnstiled Liam Hunks, picked up the puck and went five-hole on Matt Kieper - 1-0, visitors.
The first saw a pair of questionable hits, one each way. Landon Alexander made the first, pushing Bo Eisner from behind into the boards from distance. Kieran Patterson immediately nailed Alexander with a crosscheck to the back after the hit, sparking off a melee in the corner. Alexander would get a checking from behind penalty for the hit, Patterson got a roughing call and the game continued.
Once Alexander was out of the box, Eisner laid a cheapshot of his own on the guy who nailed him, nailing Alexander with a similar hit behind the Melfort net. Once again, an eight-car pileup started behind the net and the Bombers got a powerplay out of the deal, but they couldn't deliver.
Meanwhile, Kieper had a tough period, taking whacks in front from Melfort. One by Nic Andrusiak drew a crowd, while another whack by Zayden Sadlemyer on the next stoppage brought up another fracas - Ryder Ringor was assessed a cross-checking penalty on the play. The Mustangs thought they'd scored a second goal, again by Paul, but the goal was immediately waved off - Paul made contact with Kieper's head in front of the net, knocking his mask off before putting the puck in. Melfort stayed up by one entering the second.
Flin Flon fans got a moment of zen at the end of the first, as Bomber goalie Kenny Marquart and Melfort goalie Kristian Coombs had a brief stalemate - both players have a superstition that they must leave the ice last, but neither was willing to budge. Coombs and Marquart stayed on the ice for several moments. Coombs faked heading off the ice before coming back on but he eventually gave in first, with fans cheering Marquart as he headed to the dressing room as the last man off.
The Bombers took over possession in the second, with the team putting over a shot a minute on Coombs, many coming from the outside or from distance. Melfort managed only three shots on the Bomber net in the period, but the Bombers couldn't convert on their laundry list of chances. Carter Cormier clanged the bar with a big shot, while Coombs almost giftwrapped the Bombers a chance by trying to play the puck behind the net and flubbing it, somehow coming back in front to cover up in the knick of time.
A Luke Lepper point blast caught Coombs straight in the head, knocking a strap from his mask loose and stopping play. Coombs needed a moment to get his bearings and stayed in the game.
The Bombers got a chance with a two-man advantage, but couldn't convert. The Mustangs' defence, which plays tight in the slot and forces chances to the outside, was able to keep danger away even when down two men. When the penalty pendulum swung the other way - this time for a high-sticking call on Cormier - the Bombers not only killed off the two minutes, but got some shorthanded chances.
Maybe Flin Flon's best chance came in the dying moments of the period, with Keefe Gruener getting a breakaway chance and being stopped, then getting a rebound chance but getting forklifted to the ice by Owen Nelson before getting the puck. The Bombers' shot count was high, but the only scoreboard numbers that matter still showed 1-0 Mustangs entering the third.
The Bombers played frantic in the third period, keeping the pressure up but having a hard time stringing together passes or getting into the slot. Coombs almost got caught again trying to play the puck, but his defence was able to kick the puck away just in time. Another bounce, this time off the back boards, sent the puck behind Coombs and out into the slot, but it then bounced over a gaggle of Bomber sticks.
With the clock ticking down, Kieran Patterson took a high-sticking call for Melfort, giving the Bombers their seventh powerplay of the night. They had failed on every opportunity until then, but finally, when it mattered most, the Bombers got it. Lepper found Koen Senft, who was able to get into the slot, with a backdoor pass - finally, with the Bombers able to actually get into a high-danger area, it paid off with Senft beating Coombs clean and tying the game.
The Mustangs played out the string, keeping the puck mostly out of Bomber hands. The game went to overtime, giving both teams a point.
With that coveted extra point still up for grabs, both teams played the extra frame conservatively. Melfort players camped out behind their own net to kill time, while the Bombers often gave up the zone to fresh legs or a new play going. Joey Lies got a prime two-on-one chance, but Coombs made the big save - back the other way soon after, Paul had a golden chance on a two-on-one, with Kieper sprawled out in desperation, but he clanged the post with his shot. The rest of the chances were stopped, forcing a winner-take-all shootout.
Melfort sent up Reilley Kotai to shoot first, putting his shot off Kieper's stick. Ringor, fresh off a long stretch on the ice in overtime, was first up for the Bombers, tried to go five-hole but was stopped. Paul came up next, getting booed from Bomber fans before putting his chance right into Kieper's pads - Flin Flon's next shooter was Gruener, who made one move too many and ran out of room, missing his shot wide.
Melfort's third man was Ashton Hutchinson, who also was stopped, setting the stage for a third Bomber shooter with the game on the line - Carter Cormier, who came in on Coombs, got him to bite on a head fake and beat him with a backhand, giving the Bombers a big win.
Coombs and a crew of Mustangs jawed with some of the Bombers' players on the way off the ice - Gruener would chirp back and get a post-game 10-minute misconduct for his trouble, but the win was still in place - Bomber fans chanted Matt Kieper's last name following the team's post-game win salute, while both he and Cormier got to snag the Bombers' coveted post-game moose leg.
Kieper made 19 saves on 20 shots for the win, while Coombs stopped 44 shots on the night in a losing effort. Melfort's defeat is the first time all season they've led at the end of the first period and still lost.
With the victory, the Bombers tie the season series against the Mustangs - both teams end their eight games of hockey with four wins each. In every game they've played this season, the home team has won - all four wins for the Bombers took place at the Whitney Forum. Both teams have also shut each other out once. Melfort entered Saturday's game missing some key regulars, including Will Munro, Nolan Roberts and Zac Somers, playing a pair of affiliate players - Flin Flon was also banged up, starting the game without 20-year-olds Leighton Carruthers and Kylynn Olafson and dressing 11 forwards, with defender Nash Holmes stepping up as a forward.
According to the SJHL, Melfort's one point from overtime clinched the team top spot in the league standings this regular season. This is not correct mathematically, though it will be next to impossible for the Bombers to beat them. With 10 points to make up and five games left, the Bombers can catch up the Mustangs and tie while earning the tiebreaker, but they would need Melfort to lose their final six games and go flawless through their own final five games to do it.
The Bombers' final five games before the playoffs will include three games at home and three games against in-division opponents. Flin Flon will host the Battlefords North Stars March 7-8, then will head to Nipawin for a game March 11 before a season-ending home and home against La Ronge March 14 and 15 - first in La Ronge, then at the Forum.
