The Swift Current Broncos won their 12th game at home with a 5-4 shootout win over the Edmoton Oil Kings on Sunday.
Justin Dowling scored the only goal in the shootout, Morgan Clark stopped all three Oil Kings' shooters, and Cody Eakin had a goal and three assists as the Broncos' dominance on home ice continued.
The game was a back and fourth affair as four times the Oil Kings erased one-goal deficits including Tomas Vincour's powerplay goal with 6:12 remaining in regulation to send the game to a scoreless overtime period.
“I thought we played good," said head coach Mark Lamb. "When we got up a goal we just didn’t bear down hard enough, we got a little bit soft. They just kept answering and we got in a little bit of penalty problems in the third period. We get in a shootout and get a win and maybe it will change our luck around when we get in those things again.”
The contest was also dominated by special teams as the Broncos finished three for four on the powerplay and the Oil Kings scored twice on six man-advantages but were unable to capitalize on a four-on-three powerplay in the final 52 seconds of overtime.
“I think we have the right mentality," said Eakin of the Broncos improved powerplay. "We are shooting the puck a lot and we are starting to click. Before there was a lot of trying individual plays, we have skilled guys out there and we were just trying to be a little bit too cute. We have to have a five-on-five mentality and if we do that like we have been we are getting success at getting chances and that is what we need.”
Brad Hoban, Derek Claffey, and Dowling all scored on the powerplay for the Broncos as they improved to 12-10-0-2 overall.
T.J. Foster, Brett Breitkreuz, and Brent Raedeke added goals for the Oil Kings who dropped to 8-11-2-4.
Morgan Clark improved to 10-6-0-1 with 38 saves, while Torrie Jung made 35 saves to drop to 5-9-0-3.
Wednesday the Broncos will be back on home ice against the Brandon Wheat Kings as they look for their WHL leading 13th victory on home ice.
