Greasy is the word I'd use to describe tonight's 6-5 win over Melfort. There was another word that Keith used but I don't think it's suited for this blog.
It certainly was not an impressive performance, but in the end Dylan Smith's hat trick empty net goal stood up as the winner.
Give the Mustangs credit - not many people would have given the last-place club a chance tonight, but even after Smith's empty-netter made it 6-4 with 62 seconds to play, Melfort kept fighting and made it a one-goal game again when Carter Berg scored with 36 seconds left.
The Bruins found themselves down 3-1 midway through the game despite outshooting the 'Stangs by a wide margin. Two of those goals were ones I'm sure Brandon Stone would like to have back.
Melfort opened the scoring 33 seconds into regulation when Avery Van Blaricom followed the puck into the corner and the Bruins left Curtis Fontaine all alone in front. Van Blaricom managed to get the puck out to him and he lifted it over Stone's glove.
The Bruins tied it up at 8:33 on a great shift by Ben Johnstone that would end with him setting up a Calder Neufeld goal.
But the Mustangs pulled ahead again eight minutes later on some poor defensive coverage by Estevan that allowed Anthony Pickering to walk in for a quality chance. His wrister glanced off Stone (either his shoulder or blocker) and fluttered up and into the net.
Useless fact: all three goals in the first period came x minutes and 33 seconds into the game (0:33, 8:33, 16:33).
Pearce Gourley made it 3-1 nearly 12 minutes into the second on a five-hole shot that Stone got a piece of, but it trickled in.
The Bruins responded with two goals in 61 seconds late in the period. It began with a shorthanded rush that saw Cole Olson feed Taylor Reich for a goal at 17:23. Then Smith got his stick on a Dom Perrault point shot to tie it up going to the intermission.
Brendan Tash would put the Mustangs back on top at 1:08 of the third with a shorty of his own, but again the Bruins replied with a pair of quick goals.
The Neufeld-Olson-Smith line was reunited in the third period and it paid off. Smith's second of the night came on the power play at the seven-minute mark when he finished off a cross-ice feed from Olson on the doorstep.
Then, 47 seconds later, Matt Brykaliuk gave the Bruins their first lead of the night on a bad-angle shot that somehow got between Jesse Ehnisz and the post.
The Bruins were missing a pair of key guys tonight. Josh Jelinski won't play tomorrow in Melville and it's not clear yet if he'll be ready to return to the lineup next weekend against La Ronge. Austin Yano suffered a groin injury in practice this morning and also won't play tomorrow, but he's expected to start skating again on Monday.
Dylan Smith Nov. 4 by lewis94
Keith Cassidy Nov. 4 by lewis94
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