It was another challenging weekend for the Flin Flon Bombers who squared off with the Kindersley Klippers in a pair of games at the Whitney Forum.

 

The Bombers played Friday’s game without 9 regulars in their  lineup and had a real tough time getting going offensively.

 

Kindersley is one of the biggest and most physical teams I have seen this season and they played almost a perfect game on Friday night.

 

The Klippers scored on the powerplay just 49 seconds into the opening period and never looked back in a solid 4 to 1 victory. Kindersley got their goals from Adam Perron, Konnor Watson and Charlie Kay.

 

The Bombers Jared Miskiw got his team a little closer late in the second period when he was able to get to the top of the slot and beat netminder Ethan Suhr with one of the few good Bomber scoring chances in the game.

 

Kindersley answered less than two minutes later when Charlie Kay got his second of the night on the powerplay to make it 4 to 1.

 

There were no goals in the third period.

 

Finn Werner suffered his fourth loss of the year surrendering 4 goals on 27 shots.

 

The Kindersley netminder Ethan Suhr gave up just the one goal on 23 shots.

 

Flin Flon shot themselves in the foot and took way to many penalties and were short handed 6 times, while the Klippers only had to kill two Bomber powerplays.

 

The Klippers also played a defensive gem and did an outstanding job keeping the speedy Bomber forwards to the outside and from the front of the net.

 

It was a perfect road game.

 

The Bombers would get a chance to redeem themselves as these two teams would meet again on Saturday night.

 

The game plan was simple,  get to the net and stay out of the penalty box.

 

It looked like it was going to be déjà vu as the game on Saturday looked like a carbon copy from Friday night.

 

Flin Flon took a couple early  penalties and Austin Bruce scored for Kindersley in the first three minutes to quiet the faithful at the Whitney Forum, and give the visitors the quick 1 to 0 lead.

 

It didn’t look good at all, as Kindersley really flew out of the gate and were out shooting Flin Flon 11 to 1 midway through the first.

 

The Bombers were able to withstand the early push by Kindersley and tied the game on just their second shot of the game. Luca Martyniuk picked up his first ever SJHL goal when he received a beautiful pass from Alex Ostrovskyy and raced down the ice to beat Ethan Suhr low blocker side.

 

This was a huge goal for the Bombers who were out played in the first period but were able to tie the game at 1 after one.

 

The two teams continued to trade goals in the second with Rhett Ewen, Jared Miskiw and Eli Heroux all finding the back of the net for the Bombers.

 

Miskiw’s goal was huge as that came on a 5 on 3 powerplay and allowed the Bombers to tie the game after surrendering a lead.

 

Kindersley got their offense from Charlie Kay, Konnor Watson and Cooper Flath and were  all even at 4 to 4 after two.

 

The Bombers had a much better second period and started to find their legs and were using their speed to generate good scoring chances and looked like the Bombers of old.

 

Flin Flon came out and took it to Kindersley in the third period and out shot the Klippers 16 to 4 and got rewarded with a couple of goals late in the game.

 

Eli Heroux was able to get his second of the night when he found the puck in front of the Klipper net in a mad scramble which would end up standing as the game winner. Heroux was terrific and never stopped skating all night and enjoyed one of his best nights as a Bomber.

 

Nathan Lalumiere would seal the deal into the empty net with just 12 seconds remaining in regulation to make the final 6 to 4 for the Bombers.

 

It was also a big night for Bomber rookie goaltender  Noah Martin who got his first career start. Martin had played parts of a couple games this season, but never played a full 60 minutes.

 

Martin was great especially early in the game when Flin Flon was being heavily outshot in the first period. Martin shut the door and was instrumental in this victory with 32 saves on 36 shots. Flin Flon fired 34 shots at the Kindersley net beating Ethan Suhr 5 times with  an empty netter.

 

The Bombers also played disciplined after getting a couple penalties early and were able to settle down and stay out of the penalty box. Specialty teams saw the Bombers go 1 for 3 on the PP while Kindersley was 0 for 3.

 

Head Coach Cole McCaig talked about a much needed bounce back win by his team especially with so many players out of the lineup. “ I wasn’t happy with the first period we gave up 16 shots and a penalty 15 seconds into the game and then a double minor,  and it was déjà vu from last night. I challenged the group here to play smarter and we can’t continue to put ourselves in these situations and then we didn’t take any more penalties. It was tough to figure out a lineup with so many guys out and then losing Beck Bethard and Kyle Marsden on our back end tonight, but I am extremely proud of this group with the way they battled tonight. We are all pretty tired with a lot of line managing with only  11 forwards and  then we had to put Miskiw back on the back end with the injuries and get down to  10 forwards. We had to be on the bench mentally  as Coach’s for sure.”

 

A big bounce back win for the Bombers who improve to 8-4-1 and have moved to within two points of Melfort for first place in the UPL Division. Flin Flon also sits tied for fourth overall with Melville and Humboldt with 17 points.

 

Kindersley will drop to 5-6-1 and these two teams will rekindle the rivalry in Kindersley this weekend as they will collide twice at the Inter Pipeline Events Centre Friday and Saturday night.

 

It will be 4 straight games to wrap up the season series against each other and then they won’t see each other again til a possible playoff showdown.