Broncos win three straight to climb Eastern Conference standings
The Swift Current Broncos won all three games last week and got the power play back on track in the process.
Wednesday, the Broncos scored three unanswered third-period goals to defeat the visiting Lethbridge Hurricanes 4-1. The Broncos struggling power play unit connected for a pair of goals to ensure the victory.
The Broncos scored the only goal of the first period when Connor Hvidston scored on the power
play, his 21st goal of the season.
The Broncos thought they had doubled the lead with a power play goal midway through the second period, but the goal was disallowed and Sean Tschirgerl tied the game with a his own power play goal moments later.
The Broncos took a second lead in the third period when Clarke Caswell collected the puck down low and backhanded it into the top of the goal for another power play goal. Mathew Ward added a breakaway goal and Owen Pickering
scored into an empty net to close the scoring.
Reid Dyck made 21 saves to improve to 14-62-0. Harrison Meneghin fell to 22-17-2-0 with 30 saves.
Friday, the Broncos erupted for five second-period goals to defeat the host Regina Pats 7-2.
The Pats led 2-1 after one period on goals from Aaron Krestanowich and Sam Oremba. Conor Geekie replied for the Broncos with his 100th career goal in his 200th game.
Luke Mistelbacher led the Broncos with two goals in the middle stanza, followed by singles from Jakub Dvorak, his first in the WHL, Caswell, and Brady Birnie in his hometown rink.
Josh Filmon scored the only goal of the third period when he notched his 23rd goal of the season to close the scoring.
Dyck earned another win with 22 saves for the Broncos. Ewan Huet fell to 11-15-0-1 with eight saves on 12 shots over 26:01 in the start. Kelton Pyne made 12 saves on 15 shots in relief.
Saturday, the Broncos completed a weekend sweep of the visiting Pats with a 6-2 win.
The Broncos scored three another goals in the middle stanza, and the final four goals overall to clinch a third straight win.
The Broncos scored
on their first shot of the game when Mistelbacher one-timed his 12th goal home only 16 seconds into regulation. The Pats quickly tied the game with a Zach Moore goal on their second shot of the contest at the 3:50 mark. Hvidston gave the Broncos a second lead with a shorthanded goal, but Anthony Wilson, a Swift Current product, scored on the same power play for the Pats to even the score 2-2 after one period.
The second period was all Broncos as Ty Coupland gave the Broncos a third lead with a power play goal. Mathew Ward scored rebound goals one minute apart to stretch the lead to 5-2 after two periods.
Connor Gabriel tipped home a point shot in the third period to close the scoring.
Dyck made 19 saves to improve to 16-6-2-0 for the Broncos. Huet fell to 11-16-0-1 with 29 saves over 40 minutes for the Pats. Pyne made 11 saves in the third period.
The Broncos improved to 29-19-3-2 to move into fourth in the Eastern Conference. They trailed both Medicine Hat and Moose Jaw by six points for the second and third playoff spots with 14 games remaining.
The Broncos entered the week with the third worst power play unit in the league at 18.2 percent. They scored five
goals on 14 power play opportunities during the three wins.
Another bright spot was the return from injury of overage defenseman Tyson Galloway, who was acquired from the Calgary Hitmen on Jan. 10, but was only able to appear in four games before being injured in Moose Jaw on Jan. 20.
Galloway said it felt good to return to the ice with his new team.
“I think it was a long awaited process for me, but it was good to get the one last night and then being at home tonight. Two wins on the weekend.”
Galloway, a veteran of 222 WHL regular season games, was plus-five in the two wins over Regina.
“I think when there’s a large gap in the score I think you can maybe play a little looser. I thought we played pretty tight and kept to the things that we needed to do and we were successful.”
Saturday’s game was played in front of 2,627 fans at the Innovationplex.
“I tell guys in the room that I’m glad I’m on this bench instead of the other one. It was never fun coming here when I was on Calgary. It’s a tough place to play when it’s packed and it’s loud. We feed off that and it’s fun.”
Galloway hoped the Broncos were beginning to hit their stride.
“At the trade deadline we added some guys obviously. I think we are gelling really well. We are coming together at the right time of the year. I think we can only get better from here on out.”
He was paired with fellow overager Ryan Mccleary against the Pats.
“I think we have a solid D core back there. Myself and Ryan Mccleary, I think we bring a 200foot game. We both play a different style of game, but I think we compliment each other really well. Our goal is to not get scored on out there. I think we’ve been doing a pretty good job of that.”
Galloway also wore the captain’s ‘C’ in Regina and will continue to wear it on the road, while incumbent Owen Pickering will be the captain at home.
“Yeah we added a few guys with Geeks and myself. The guys in the room were accepting of us. Credit to Picks, he’s been a captain here… and being able to split that, that says a lot about his character. I’m obviously really grateful and honoured.”
The Broncos will have a home-and-away set against the Medicine Hat Tigers this weekend, beginning Friday in Swift Current. The rematch will be Saturday in Medicine Hat.