After a slow opening period on Saturday night that saw the Flin Flon Bombers ony pick up three shots, they found their game in the second period and knocked off the front running Melfort Mustangs 4 to 0.

 

Keefe Gruener did much of the damage offensively as he scored the hat-trick to bring him up to 26 goals on the season. One of his goals came short handed as he picked up a loose puck in the neautral  zone and went in alone to beat Mustang netminder Madden Mulawka low stick side.

 

That is the 12th short handed goal for the Bombers as a team and the fifth for Gruener. The Bomber record is 8 set by Rob Beck in the 91-92 season.

 

With his 26 goals, Gruener now has a share in  the league lead with Jacob Strizzi of the Humboldt Broncos.

 

Ryder Ringor had the other goal for Flin Flon when he re-directed a shot on the power play for his 21st of the season.

 

Matthew Kieper remains red hot picking up his third shutout in his last 4 games making 24 saves for his 16th win of the season. Madden Mulawka ended up with 30 saves on 34 shots and suffered his first loss of the year.

 

With the win on Saturday, the Bomber streak has hit 26 games without a regulation loss and they have also closed the gap to two points on the Mustangs for first overall. Melfort does have 3 games in hand.

 

Flin Flon's record improves to 29-9-3-1 while the Mustangs fall to 32-7.

 

The season series is now tied at 3 wins a piece with both teams winning all three times in their own building. They will play two more times in a home and home at the end of this month.

 

It is a busy week for Flin Flon who play three times this week with Estevan coming to town for a pair of games on the weekend. Tomorrow the Bombers make their way to Nipawin to face the Hawks who just dropped a pair of games to Melville on the weekend.

 

Nipawin remains in the basement with just 8 wins,  but did beat the Mustangs last week, so Flin Flon better not take them lightly. Game time tomorrow is 7pm and we will  have the broadcast on 102.9 CFAR and Flinflononine.com beginning with the Great North GM Coach's Show at 6:40.