Matteo Gennaro continued his hot week scoring twice including the game winner as the Swift Current Broncos beat the Regina Pats 4-2 tonight.

“That was a big win for our team,” Gennaro said. “Everybody wanted that win and it was a big divisional game.”

Gennaro has 5 goals and 2 assists in 3 games this week since being united with Kole Gable and Max Patterson.

“We've been playing pretty well together,” Gennaro said. “We're just trying to communicate with each other, understand where each other are going to be on the ice and produce any way we can.”

Gennaro is up to 12 goals and 14 assists in 16 games with the Broncos.

Kaden Elder also scored twice for Swift Current in their first game against Regina since early in the season.

“I thought our guys played really well the first period the pace was up,” said Broncos Associate Coach Ryan Smith. “Second period wasn't great and that was as solid a third period as you can get. With the two teams having not played in a long time there was a little excitement and you could see that. There was a little bit of nasty in the game, not dirty but nasty, and I liked the game. It was one of the better games we've played all year.”

After a few slow starts recently the Broncos were happy with how they came out in both games this weekend.

“I think just guys were focused,” Smith said. “We were fast. We were real quick to pucks. Took away a lot of time and space from them. The pace of the game... it was really quick in the first period.”

Both Elder and Gennaro beat Pats goaltender Tyler Brown with shots from the top of the slot on his blocker side. That quickly ended Brown's night and AP Jacob Wasserman carried Regina the rest of the way.

The Pats turned the game around after the switch and had a strong second period to tie the game on goals by Bryan Lockner and Nick Henry. Lockner struck on a power play and Henry shortly after.

“We took penalties and they scored on both their power plays,” Smith said. “It's hard to get momentum when you're killing. You shorten you bench and use the same guys over and over again. That's the difference you've got to stay out of the box.”

It was a pretty tight and physical third period until the Broncos broke it open with five minutes to play. Gable and Patterson dug the puck out to Gennaro who again ripped one home from the top of the slot for a 3-2 lead. Beck Malenstyn then won a battle behind the net to set Elder up for the insurance goal late.

“The shots are nice good finishes,” Smith said. “But the start of the plays you get the puck deep, you go to work, you out muscle them down low and get on their defence. Nobody likes to be hit. That's on both those plays.”

Logan Flodell was again very solid for the Broncos stopping 33 of 35 shots in the victory.

Swift Current got Artyom Minulin back in the lineup from the World Junior Championship and he was his usual steady self.

“He's coming off a real high of playing in such a prestige tournament,” Smith said. “You could see he had a jump in his step. He was very good on the ice, he was very good on the bench and I thought he played quite well. Adding him back is a great thing because he eats up some minutes and allows other guys to play in spots where they're more comfortable.”

The Broncos will likely get Aleksi Heponiemi back in their lineup tomorrow against Red Deer and Tyler Steenbergen by next weekend. They went 8-4-1-0 since Steenbergen and Heponiemi both first missed a game ahead of World Juniors.

“Everyone was concerned how we would do missing three top guys,” Smith said. “We struggled at times, but other guys stepped up. We've had some guys really raise their game. We're winning by committee and that's important. In the playoffs lines can get shut down and guys can get shut down... we like what we have and the depth came forward in this time.”

Some of those players include Patterson with 12 points in that stretch, Gable with 10 and Elder with 8. Their production has helped give the Broncos a push from their other lines they hadn't been getting at times earlier in the season.

Swift Current wraps up a busy weekend with a Sunday afternoon game against Red Deer at the Innovation Credit Union iPlex.

“We've got two teams playing their third game in two and a half games,” Smith said. “Red Deer plays a physical, straight forward game. They played us real hard last time there. It will be a fast, physical game.”

Our broadcast of Robertson Family Group Broncos Hockey starts at 3:30pm on The Eagle 94.1 FM with puck drop just after 4pm. There will be a skate with the Broncos after the game.