The Estevan Bruins are on the brink of elimination after two losses on home ice to the Melfort Mustangs.
The Mustangs defeated the Bruins 2-1 in overtime in Game 3 Tuesday night and 2-1 in Game 4 Wednesday, in a game that was essentially decided in overtime.
Zach Anderson scored 4 1/2 minutes into the first period on a rebound to give Melfort a 1-0 lead. The Mustangs carried the play for much of the first period, although didn’t get a lot of quality scoring opportunities.
Estevan tied the game five minutes into the second when Eddie Gallagher scored after taking a pass from Davis. The goal was considered even strength, but was essentially on a power play, as the Bruins had pulled their goalie on a delayed penalty, and had an extra attacker on the ice.
“Jayden Davis made a great pass to me. I saw the goalie challenge a little too far, and I got lucky when I got around … his pad,” said Gallagher, who noted the Melfort defender nearly stopped the puck before it cross the goal line.
Both teams had plenty of opportunities to score in the final 15 minutes of the second and into the third, but it would remain a tie game until Ben Tkachuk scored with 51 seconds remaining in regulation.
“We’ve been through four games in a row that are very similar,” said head coach and general manager Chris Lewgood. “I think Game 2 was a bit of a one-off, I don’t think we competed hard enough that night, but I think that’s a thing of the past.”
The Mustangs outshot the Bruins 25-21 in Game 4. Keenan Rancier made 23 saves on the night – the first time he hasn’t had to make at least 40 saves in a game in the series. Shawn Parkinson stopped 20 shots for Melfort.
Games 3 and 4 saw the Bruins play hard, and play “the right kind of game,” Lewgood said, but unforced errors hurt them.
“We’re OK with the shots against. It’s the goals against where we have to make a few adjustments and keep one more puck out of our net and get one more into theirs,” said Lewgood.
The Bruins find themselves down 3-1 in the quarter-finals for the second straight year. Last year they were down 3-1 to the Humboldt Broncos, but rallied to win that series.
Ten players on this year’s club were part of the Bruins team that rallied against Humboldt.
“It changes it from a long shot to a reality,” said Lewgood. “I think the one thing we learned last year was you don’t look at it as winning three games, you look at it as winning one game, and then after that game’s over, you look at it as winning one game, and so on.”
Gallagher echoed Lewgood’s statement, saying he has faith in his teammates and he believes they can still pull off the comeback.
“Melfort has an amazing defensive group. Their top two are logging a lot of minutes. They’re doing a great job of shutting us down. We just have to keep wearing them out as much as we can,” said Gallagher.
There are a lot of determined players on the Bruins, Lewgood said, and they’ll be ready to go for Game 5 Friday night in Melfort with their season on the line.
