One point, not two - the Bombers couldn't close out against Weyburn on the road Friday, but kept their point streak alive with a 3-2 OT defeat.
The Bombers' gruelling southern swing continued with the team's third game in four days and fifth game in a week. Flin Flon took the lead for a portion of the game, but Weyburn came back and snagged the extra point in OT.
Bomber goalie Matt Kieper came into the game on a two-game-plus shutout streak, but that was dashed in the first period thanks to Weyburn's Jaxson Ruthven. The Wings' forward deflected a shot by teammate Jerome Maharaj past Kieper, ending his shutout streak at 127:59.
The Wings owned possession early on against a visibly fatigued Bomber team, who entered Friday's game down three of their six 20-year-old forwards - Leighton Carruthers remains out of the lineup and may be out for the rest of the regular season, while Kylynn Olafson and Anthony Piccininno were also out injured. The Bombers entered one forward short - defender Emerson Clark started the game taking draws as a forward.
Later in the frame, the Bombers' bus legs started wearing off and the team tied things up - a Keefe Gruener shot would be stopped by Weyburn's Angelo Zol, but Carter Cormier would not be denied on the rebound, scoring to make it 1-1. The Bombers had chances to take the lead that were stopped by Zol, one of the SJHL's best goalies,
Little took place in the second, but the Bombers got their chance early in the third, with Cormier getting a second goal in the first minute of the third, taking a feed from Gruener in the high slot and ripping it home. Reid Arberry and Weyburn's Luke Schraeder would drop the mitts soon after, with Arberry getting the takedown to close the fight - both were sent to the showers early.
The Bombers would keep the lead until late in the third, when Lucas Schmid got a quick shot through traffic that fooled Kieper, tying the game up. Both teams pushed hard in the final moments of regulation time, but after 60 minutes, no winner would be crowned. Overtime would be needed - and no matter what happened next, the Bombers' point streak would continue.
Gruener and Cormier almost opened the OT period with a winner, teaming up on a two-on-one, but Zol made a big save for Weyburn. The Bombers pushed hard and kept possession in the Red Wings' zone for long stretches, but overtime is won and lost in instants - and that's exactly what happened to the Bombers.
After three minutes of play, the Bombers got caught on a line change, with two players leaving the ice at the same time and Weyburn entering the zone. Josh Karman found Ethan DeKay with a hundred-foot pass, who walked into the zone and was pokechecked. While DeKay lost the puck, it bounced back to Blake Betson, then to Max Chakrabarti, who got around the Bomber defence and rifled a wrister past Kieper, clinching a Weyburn win.
Zol made 26 saves in the win for the Wings, while Kieper stopped 26 in a losing cause.
Despite the loss, the Bombers still pick up a point, seeing their point streak hit 24 games - the Bombers have gone 21-0-2-1 in that time and have earned 45 points of a possible 48. The loss did kill Flin Flon's win streak, which reached seven straight before the setback.
The overtime defeat means the Bombers lose ground in the standings, with Weyburn in third creeping up behind - the Bombers now have 58 points, with the Wings now six points back. The Bombers are also now six points behind Melfort for first place in the league - the Mustangs beat La Ronge Friday night, extending their lead by a point.
The Bombers will end their final southern swing of the season with a Saturday night matchup in Wilcox against the Notre Dame Hounds.
