Bruins Score Six On Saturday Night; Defeat Melville 6-2

The Power Dodge Estevan Bruins pulled off their fourth consecutive weekend sweep after another convincing 6-2 victory over the Melville Millionaires on Saturday night.

VIDEO: Bruins Defeat Melville 6-2

After posting a 2-0 shutout victory at home the night before, the Bruins carried their momentum into the Horizon Credit Union Centre with a solid 1st period on the road.

TJ Irey would get the scoring started at the 4:49 mark, putting home a rebound on the Bruins first powerplay of the night to make it 1-0. Jake Heerspink and Aigne McGeady-Bruce, playing in his 100th game as a Bruin, assisted on the goal.

The Bruins would make good on another man advantage at the 14:18 mark, as Will Koop scored a similar rebound goal to put the Bruins up 2-0 after 20 minutes. Devan Harrison and Johnny Witzke assisted on the goal.

Melville would get back in the game at the 5:32 mark of the 2nd period as Daniel Liberty scored just as a 5-on-3 powerplay expired to cut the Bruins lead to 2-1. The Millionaires would have a few quality opportunities to tie the game, but Bruins goaltender Kadin Kilpatrick shut the door to keep his team ahead.

Then at the 14:56 mark of the 2nd period while shorthanded, Jayden Davis would pounce on a turnover at the defensive blueline and break in all alone against Berk Berkeliev. While Berkeliev would stop the intital shot, Davis tucked home the rebound for his 11th of the year to make it 3-1 for Estevan after two periods. For Davis, it’s his third shorthanded goal in the last five games.

The Bruins would break the game open early in the final frame, extinguishing any thought of a Melville comeback.

At 3:35, Irey snapped home his second of the game and 18th of the season to make it 4-1. Irey’s linemates, Bryce Platt and Turner Ripplinger, would set up the goal.

Under a minute later at 4:31, an attempted pass by Koop would bounce off the Millionaires defenceman’s skate and into the net for Koop’s second of the game and 8th of the year on the eve of Koop’s 21st birthday. Witzke and Michael McChesney assisted on the goal.

Melville’s Ryan Butler would make it 5-2 at the 8:31 mark, as a shot from Liberty went off Butler and past Kilpatrick. But that’s as close as the Millionaires would get and Melville’s frustrations began to boil over.

The first of two fights in the period would take place at the 11:13 mark as Estevan’s Bronson Adams and Melville’s Damien Bentz squared off at center ice in a solid back-and-forth tilt.

At the 16:05 mark, Kade McMillen would round out the scoring putting home the rebound to make it 6-2. Davis drew the lone assist on the play, while McChesney should have also got credit for a helper on the play.

The last bit of excitement in the game would come with only 51 seconds remaining. After a faceoff in the Melville zone, Estevan’s Tristyn Deroose and Melville’s Max McPeak would get tangled up and shed the mitts along the boards. Some heavy blows from Deroose were landed on McPeak as the Bruins would skate off with the 6-2 victory, sweeping the home-and-home with Melville.

Kadin Kilpatrick (20/22) would earn his second straight win after shutting out Melville on Friday night, while Berk Berkeliev (27/33) could not live up to his outstanding performance on Friday night in yet another losing effort.

The Bruins would finish 2/10 on the powerplay, and added Davis’ shorthanded marker. Melville ended up (1/8) on the powerplay.

Estevan’s win combined with Yorkton’s 4-1 loss in Kindersley on Saturday night leaves the Bruins six points up on the Terriers for top spot in the Viterra Division after the weekend. Yorkton still has a game in hand.

Next action for the Bruins is on Tuesday, Feb. 12th with another road game, this time in Wilcox against the Notre Dame Hounds at 8:00pm.