The Swift Current Broncos (13-18-4-1) clawed their way back to take a 2-1 lead in the third period Friday night, but the Calgary Hitmen (16-13-4-2) then scored four unanswered, including two in 25 seconds, to take the game 5-2.

A scary moment early in the game saw Hitmen defenceman Matthew Sutter throw an open-ice hit on Caleb Wyrostok, but Sutter got the worst of it and layid on the ice for several minutes before leaving to the locker room under his own power. He was given a penalty for interference on the hit.

Swift Current had plenty of zone time on the ensuing power play but were unable to open the scoring. Calgary then received their first power play of the game near the halfway mark of the period and jumped out to a 1-0 lead.

Blake Stevenson took a pass in the right circle and skated in before firing a hard shot over the blocker of Isaac Poulter to put the Hitmen ahead 1-0. They would take that lead into the intermission, outshooting the Broncos 15-13.

The Broncos pulled even early in period two off some strong forechecking deep in the Hitmen zone. Carter Stebbings worked the puck free to Cole Nagy who then slid it to the front of the goal for Josh Filmon. Filmon was denied on his first chance, but got his own rebound and backhanded the puck in for his 16th of the season, tying the game at one 6:55 into the period.

Both teams had a plethora of chances over the remainder of the second period, including Brayden Peters makes two huge saves of Josh Davies and Clarke Caswell to get his team into the second intermission tied at one.

Caleb Wyrostok pulled his team ahead 5:31 into the third period. Finishing off a lengthy shift by the Broncos in the Calgary zone by stepping into the left circle and beating Peters through the five hole to give the Broncos their first lead of the game.

The lead didn’t last long as the Hitmen tied the game on an unfortunate break for Swift Current. The puck was cleared out of the Hitmen zone, and as he turned to try and get back defensively, Kayden Sadhra-Kang hit a rut in the ice, resulting in the Hitmen having a 3-on-0 rush.

Anton Astashevich held the puck on the right wing before sliding it across to David Adaszynski who tapped home his fifth of the year to tie the game.

Just 25 seconds later, Cael Zimmerman hooked the puck out from below the goal line for Stevenson who scored his second of the game, restoring Calgary’s lead 7:33 into the third period.

The Broncos than ran into some penalty trouble, taking two penalties 40 seconds apart, which ended in Riley Fiddler-Schultz scoring on a one timer during the 5-on-3, pushing the Hitmen lead to 4-2.

Fiddley-Schultz then capped off the scoring by hitting the empty net with four seconds to go, sealing the 5-2 victory.

The Broncos will look to rebound against the Lethbridge Hurricanes (14-15-2-1) on Saturday night on home ice.

Announced attendance was 1,297.