Colin Shirley and Nick Chyzowski combined for seven points leading the Kamloops Blazers to a 5-4 win over the Swift Current Broncos.

A somewhat fatigued Broncos club coming off an overtime game in Prince George the night before and a long bus trip still battled hard to the end.

“It was a good hockey game,” said Broncos Associate Coach Ryan Smith. “You come up short sometimes. For us it was there for the taking. You wanted to give yourself a chance to win a game like this you knew you had a tough one last night and a long road trip. We did some good things, but I thought we shot ourselves in the foot and just came up short in the end.”

There were lots of opportunities for both clubs and some sloppy moments as well.

“When you don't have your 'A' game and you're kind of struggling with the fatigue of the trip you need to have your 'B' game which is smarts,” Smith said. “I thought tonight our 'B' game wasn't there. Travelling for sure was hard on us but everybody goes through it. I thought we were a little soft on pucks. We had some chances to get pucks out around our blue line and off draws they beat us to pucks. Those are things that kill you.”

Click here for the full interview with Ryan Smith

Shirley and Chizowski struck late in the first and early in the second period to give Kamloops a 2-0 lead. As they did on Tuesday in Prince George the Broncos then battled back from a deficit and evened the game up on goals by Cole Johnson and Glenn Gawdin.

Johnson's goal rewarded him for some strong work lately that the coaches have taken notice of.

“He was our best player last night and he was one of our better players tonight” Smith said. “He's been playing really well it's nice to see. He's got a lot of time to make up and good for him. He's playing well, he's playing strong, he's finishing checks and he was a big part of the game tonight.”

Kamloops pulled ahead with two quick goals early in the third period from Shirley and Deven Sideroff. Again the Broncos tried to battle back as Calvin Spencer struck off a great feed from Aleksi Heponiemo for his second goal in as many games.

Swift Current then took a late penalty and while they killed it off couldn't get a line change after it expired and Chyzowski restored a two-goal cushion for the Blazers.

Brandan Arnold made it interesting with his second of the season as he and Tanner Mole combined to create a turnover in Kamloops territory in the final minute of the game. The Broncos then pulled Travis Child and put some pressure on the Blazers before falling just short in the end.

The loss snapped Swift Current's four game win streak and seven game point streak.

Child made 35 saves in a losing cause. Gawdin and Heponiemi each had two point nights. Gawdin has had a goal and an assist in each game on the BC Division road swing so far.

The Broncos remain tied for top spot in the Eastern Conference. They head to Victoria on Friday and Vancouver on Saturday.