A week to rest, practice and regroup did the Swift Current Broncos a world of good.

Fresh off a six day break from game action, the Broncos battled down to the end in a 3-2 win over the Edmonton Oil Kings tonight.

"It's huge for us getting our confidence back," said Broncos defenceman Connor Horning. "I think the week off helped take our minds off it. We were kind of in our slump there so just to take our minds off game action and focus on find tuning some things. That really helped."



The win snapped a five game losing streak for Swift Current as they last victory came on November 3rd against these same Oil Kings in overtime.

"I thought we were pretty good in the first two periods," said Broncos Coach/Director of Hockey Operations Dean Brockman. "In the third we got a little bit running around. They amped it up and we started to panic a little bit. Proud of the guys. They blocked a lot of shots, paid the price a lot and found a way to get a win."



Swift Current got off to a strong start, but couldn't find the back of the net early. For a team that had been shut out in three of their previous four games that could have been a big set back. That's why Andrew Fyten's goal with 13 seconds left in the first period was a huge one for the rebuilding Broncos.

"That's a big confidence boost for the boys in there," Horning said. "You saw (Fyten) on that goal he got the crowd going too."

Fyten took advantage of a turnover by Wyatt McLeod after some aggressive pressure and tucked a backhand by Boston Bilous for a 1-0 Swift Current lead.

The Broncos added another on a Ben King one-timer that deflected in for a power play goal early in the second period. The man advantage had been a focus all week for Swift Current.

"Our power play hasn't been very good so we touched a lot on that," Brockman said before the game. "It's decision making and thinking quicker. That puck that's a foot ahead or a foot behind is just a killer because a power play is all about trying to change sides, find seems and create opportunities. If you bobble a puck it allows them to get set. We have to be a lot cleaner with things."



The Broncos tried two different power play units and it paid off with King's goal on a quick slap pass by Patterson that set up a one-timer into traffic.

Edmonton then got back in the game quickly when Brett Kemp banked a puck off the side of Isaac Poulter and in for their first of the game. The Oil Kings then struck again on an Ethan Cap power play goal a two minutes later.

With a couple of tough bounces happening so quickly for a rookie goalie it was a test of Poulter's mental game that he responded to well in shutting Edmonton down the rest of the way with 29 saves for his second WHL win.

"That's a great sign for a young goalie," Brockman noted. "It didn't effect him. I told him that after the game. Young guys it's hard to recover from that, but he did and made some huge saves at the end."

Poulter's first WHL win also came against Edmonton.

The other major key to Swift Current's response was Patterson's goal 15 seconds after Edmonton tied it up. He drove the net and sold that he was passing so well it opened up Bilous' five-hole for the game winner.

Patterson, Horning and Ben King each had two point nights.

Edmonton fired had the puck for much of the third period and created a lot of pressure in the Swift Current zone. They were not able to solve Poulter or all Swift Current's shot blockers.

The Oil Kings have now dropped four of their last five games as they fall to 14-9-2-2 on the season. Swift Current's win moves them up to 4-18-1-1 with three of those wins coming recently on home ice.|

Matt Stanley was back in the Broncos' lineup after missing the last five games with an illness. Swift Current then lost Joona Kiviniemi to illness for tonight's game and then Alex Moar was hurt on a low hit in the first period.

The Broncos went 1 for 5 on their power play, while holding Edmonton to 1 for 4 with a really effective penalty kill tonight.

Swift Current hosts Brandon on Wednesday.