SPRUCE GROVE, AB (October 27, 2018) – The Brooks Bandits (14-2) saw the fifth-longest win streak in franchise history come to an end on Saturday night, as despite erasing 1-0 and 2-1 deficits against the defending league champions, they fell 4-3 in regulation to the Spruce Grove Saints.
The Bandits tied the Saints in shots 33-33 despite having 5 of the 6 penalties in the game assessed to them.
A long point shot by Logan Ganie beat Pierce Charleson (Aurora, ON) through a screen at the 16:26 mark to open the scoring. But the Bandits, despite being on all three penalty kills of the first, were only outshot 15-7, killed off all three penalties, and tied the game when Arnaud Vachon (Ajax, ON) wristed one home off the rush with 57 seconds left in the period.
In the second, the Saints were given two more consecutive power plays, leading to an extended 5-on-3. The Bandits again killed off most of it, until in the dying seconds Tanner Hickey blasted a point shot through another screen to make it a 2-1 Saints lead.
But the Bandits turned to Vachon again, who scored his team leading 11th goal of the year when he jammed home a puck at the side of the net off a Luke Bast (Red Deer, AB) setup in the defenceman’s first game back in the lineup from injury, tying the game 2-2.
The Bandits outshot the Saints 15-8 in the third period, and took their first lead of the game when Simon Boyko (Mississauga, ON) fired a shot that bounced off Saints goalie Braeden Stephen, then off a rushing in Bobby Harrison (Waterdown, ON) and into the back of the Spruce Grove net to put the Bandits up 3-2.
But the Saints tied it on another long Hickey point shot at the 11:43 mark, and scored the game-winner with just 56 seconds left when Kris Bladen tipped a puck home from the top of the crease on an odd man rush.
The Bandits went 0 for 1 on the power play and 4 for 5 on the penalty kill, as Charleson made 29 saves on 33 Saints shots. The Bandits return to action on Tuesday night to take on the Olds Grizzlys at 7:30 PM, aiming to re-enter the win column. Pre-game coverage starts at 7:15 PM on Real Country 105.7.