Landon Bow made 20 saves for the shutout and Adam Lowry scored his third hat trick of the season as the Swift Current Broncos beat the Kootenay Ice 4-0 on Sunday. It was the first shutout and win of Bow's WHL career.
“I feel absolutely great,” Bow said. “Being able to come back after being injured for a couple of weeks it feels good... It's a big confidence booster for me. I know I can do it so I'm just going to run with this.”
The Broncos dominated the game with 54 shots to only 20 for the Ice. Kootenay goaltender Mackenzie Skapski kept his team in it with some spectacular stops including a couple on former teammate Colby Cave.
“He's an unbelievable goalie,” Cave said. “If he wasn't in the net maybe a few more goals would have gone in.”
The Broncos outshot the Ice 12-4 through 20 minutes of play and Skapski kept it scoreless. Swift Current didn't get frustrated.
Post-Game with Landon Bow, Adam Lowry, Colby Cave and Darren Evjen“We stayed with it,” said Broncos Assistant Coach Darren Evjen. “We didn't take bad penalties, we didn't start turn pucks over and start cheating to try and get a goal. We stuck with our game plan and played a pretty good game.”
Graham Black opened the scoring only 59 seconds into the 2nd period. His goal was the “teddy bear” goal as the Broncos held their annual teddy bear, toque and mitten toss with all items thrown on the ice going to the local Salvation Army. The delay after the goal didn't slow the Broncos down as they fired 24 shots on goal in the period and scored again when a shot from Levi Bews went off Lowry's skate and in.
Swift Current's Captain added some insurance 33 seconds into the 3rd period by ripping a shot over the glove of Skapski and completed the hat trick on the rebound of a Coda Gordon shot. Lowry extended his point streak to 11 games and goal streak to 6 as he moved into the top 10 of WHL goal scorers with 21.
“It has to do with confidence,” Lowry said. “The pucks feel like they're bouncing the right way right now and my linemates are playing great around me.”
With injuries piling up the Broncos only dressed 11 forwards on Sunday with Lowry double shifting. He was impressed with the performance of 4th line wingers Denis Bosc and Justin Spagrud at his side.
“They really stepped up tonight,” Lowry said. “They did a great job generating chances and that allowed (Coach Mark Lamb) to keep rolling four lines. I think going forward if we're going to be successful we need all four lines chipping in.”
Lowry now has 11 goals and 7 assists for 18 points over his point streak.
“He's just seemed to elevate his game,” Evjen said. “He's winning every battle, skating so well, makes so many good plays with the puck... it's just his overall game. He's just been such a force to deal with.”
Kootenay was down to 5 defencemen and the Broncos wore them down with a physical game.
"Primary I think we wanted to get the pucks deep and get to work on their D," Evjen said. "Cycle the puck, be physical on them and that was the key."
Coda Gordon chipped in 3 assists, while Cave added 2 helpers against his former team.
Full Game Highlights“It puts a little fire into the belly,” Cave noted. “I know I struggled a little bit on the BC road swing. Coming home it's a good opportunity, we're down a few guys... the wing is missing a few guys and it's nice to know that (Coach Lamb) can trust me on the wing... playing with Lowry and Gordon they make it pretty easy.”
The shutout by Bow was the 2nd by a Swift Current goaltender since starter Eetu Laurikainen left to join Finland's entry at the World Junior Championship. Steve Myland earned the shutout in Prince George last Tuesday before Bow shut the door on Sunday.
“That goes to show that we're starting to get some depth in our goaltending,” Evjen added. “That's a huge key.”
Swift Current went 2 for 4 on the power play. The Ice went 0 for 1.
The Broncos play their final game before the holiday break at home to the Saskatoon Blades on Tuesday. Swift Current is 2-1-1-0 against the Blades so far this season.
You can listen to Tuesday's game on The Eagle 94.1 FM with The New Pioneer Co-op Home Centre Broncos Hockey at 6:30pm.
Fri, Apr 26, 10:00 AM
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