Down 2-0 early in the second period to the 11th best team in a 12-team league, the Power Dodge Estevan Bruins weren’t about to let the score dictate the game against the Weyburn Red Wings Sunday.
The Bruins stormed back with four goals in a row and ended up beating the Red Wings 5-3 at Affinity Place in their last game of 2018.
“We were throwing lots of shots all (game) and I think that was the key,” said Bruins captain Jake Heerspink, who scored a goal and two assists from the blueline. “We never stopped doing that and they just started going in later in the game.”
“I think our guys recognized we were playing well and they (Weyburn) scored two on the power play,” said Bruins head coach and general manager Chris Lewgood. “I think that opened our eyes a little bit. We’ve got to stay out of the penalty box and stay more disciplined.”
Lewgood said as long as they kept on doing what they were doing five-on-five, his team would have success.
The Bruins led in shots 16-3 after the first period but were down 1-0. Weyburn scored a power play goal early in the second. With a nice feed from Heerspink, Tyson Manz scored the Bruins first of the game at 7:08 of the frame and the Heerspink and Bryce Platt scored for the Bruins to take the lead.
At 5:51 of the third, Bruins forward Michael McChesney sniped a seeing eye shot on the power play through traffic to give the Bruins a 4-2 lead. Although Weyburn’s Tyran Brown scored with 30 seconds left and his goaltender pulled, the Red Wings couldn’t muster another shot on net and Turner Ripplinger scored into the empty net with seven seconds left.
“We all bought in and played the game we wanted to play and came out with a win,” said Heerspink.
The Bruins ended up outshooting the Red Wings 48-24. The teams play again Tuesday in Weyburn.
“We’ll make decisions on the lineup,” said Lewgood. “We’ve got guys that sat today… We might look to get Jack Michell in, he sat healthy today and their guys got an opportunity. We might make some changes. We see these guys a lot so we’re going to give them a few different looks. But for the most part things will stay the same.”
