It won’t be a perfect road trip for the Estevan Bruins as the Humboldt Broncos scored two 3rd period goals in 17 seconds and added two into the empty net to defeat the Bruins 5-1 on Wednesday night.
After opening the 4-game road trip with a 4-1 win in Kindersley the night before, the Bruins travelled to Humboldt for their only trip to the Elgar Petersen Arena this season looking to make it back-to-back wins.
The opening period was back-and-forth until the final minutes when Humboldt capitalized on the first powerplay of the game. In the final seconds of the man advantage, Noah Barlage fired a shot that beat a screened Keenan Rancier to put the Broncos up 1-0 after 20 minutes.
The Bruins controlled the majority of the play in the 2nd period, outshooting Humboldt 18-8 in the middle frame. However, the Bruins were unable to find the back of the net on those chances and it would remain 1-0 for the Broncos heading into the final period.
That’s when the Bruins finally broke through tying the game at 2:59 of the 3rd period. After a furious scramble in front of the Humboldt net, Tanner Manz grabbed the loose puck at the top of the slot and found CJ Corazzin sneaking in down the wing from the point. Corazzin beat Humboldt’s Brendan Forman five-hole for the Corazzin’s 3rd goal of the season to tie the game at 1-1. Manz and Dain Sardelli assisted on the goal.
But just minutes later, a bad bounce for the Bruins gave Humboldt the lead back. Bryson Cecconi came down the wing and fired a low shot on Rancier who made the save but popped the puck high up in the air. The puck then came down on the back of Rancier and trickled over the goal line to give Humboldt a 2-1 lead at the 4:45 mark.
Just seven seconds later, Corazzin was given a questionable penalty for kneeing after a hit. And just ten seconds into the powerplay, Humboldt’s Chase Felgueiras’ shot found it’s way through a maze of bodies and into the net to suddenly give Humboldt a 3-1 lead at the 5:02 mark.
The Bruins peppered Forman with shots in an attempt to close the deficit as the period continued, eventually leading to the Bruins pulling their goalie for an extra attacker with three minutes remaining. The Bruins had plenty of opportunities around the net but couldn’t find a way to get the puck past Forman.
At 19:02, Humboldt’s Zach McIntyre shot from the red line and found the empty net to put the Broncos up 4-1. The Bruins would pull their goalie once again, but once again it would be the Broncos scoring as Justin Jamer closed out the scoring at 19:53 for the 5-1 final score.
Keenan Rancier (32/35) was tagged with the loss for the Bruins while Brendan Forman (36/37) earned the win for Humboldt.
The Bruins (0/1) went scoreless on their lone powerplay opportunity while Humboldt (2/4) went 50% of their powerplay.
The Bruins (8-11-2-1) will continue their road trip on Friday, November 22 in Battlefords (22-2-0-0) before closing out the trip in Kindersley on Saturday night.