A trip to the Western Hockey League's US Division has been anything but kind to the Swift Current Broncos.
A 4-1 loss in Everett on Sunday left the Broncos with an 0-4 record on their trip to the north western United-States and they've been outscored 20-9 over that time. This isn't an isolated incident for the Broncos as they went 1-4 against US Division opponents in each of the last two seasons.
"It's been a disappointing road trip so far as far as wins and losses," said Broncos Assistant Coach Jamie Heward. "We'll try and be as positive as we can and draw some stuff from it. This is a tough division... you've got to be perfect. All it takes is one little mistake and these teams are so potent they just put it in the back of your net."
The Broncos had given up only 25 goals in 10 games to start the season. Their goals allowed per game average doubled on the trip so far with 20 goals allowed in only 4 games.
"We've done a lot of good things but it's been in spurts," Heward said. "It hasn't been 60 minutes of solid hockey. We're really doing it to ourselves that's the biggest problem. These teams aren't beating us because they're better than us, they're beating us because we're giving them chances."
Heward would like to see his team battle harder to get in the way of shots in the defensive zone. That's something he felt Everett did a better job at than Swift Current.
"There seems to be some confusion on what we're trying to do in our zone," he noted. "Basically it just comes down to if you block a shot everything settles down. We're letting way too many pucks get through and having to battle close to the net."
The Broncos were flat early against the Silvertips getting outshot 13-5 in the first period. Everett took advantage and struck three times in the period to take a big edge. Winquist opened the scoring at 8:18 with a slap shot from just inside the Swift Current zone that beat Eetu Laurikainen upstairs. They had a 5 on 3 power play shortly after and took advantage shortly after the first penalty expired by setting up an Ivan Nikolishin one-timer.
The biggest blow came with 16 seconds left in the period as Manraj Hayer drove the net for a rebound and a 3-0 lead. The Broncos have now given up goals late in the first period in six of their last eight games.
"We're not paying attention to detail when it comes to the last two minutes of each period," Heward said. "We seem to fall asleep and not bear down, whereas when we were winning that's where we were bearing down."
Everett appeared to get another goal early in the second period on a re-direction by Carson Stadnyk. The goal was waved off for contact with the goalie, but that still spelled the end of Laurikainen's night as he was replaced by Landon Bow. Laurikainen allowed 3 goals on 13 shots. He has an uncharacteristic 0.862 save percentage so far on the road swing.
"We all know he can play better," Heward said. "But has he played bad? No, absolutely not. Neither did Bow. We gave up really good, glaring chances that just went into the back of our net... none of them are really bad goalies. I wouldn't consider him struggling I just think we're giving up way too many quality chances."
Julius Honka put Swift Current on the board with a power play goal at 15:52 of the period. He wired his 5th of the season from the top left circle and by Everett goalie Austin Lotz. It was the first power play goal of the road swing for the Broncos.
That's as close as Swift Current would get as a Zac Mackay turnover allowed big defenceman Ben Betker to fire a shot from the wing and create a rebound that Tyler Sandu knocked home for a 4-1 Silvertips lead with 1:16 to go in the second frame.
Swift Current outshot the Silvertips 12-4 in the third period and found some success running an event strength version of their first power play unit. They couldn't break through the Everett defensize wall to cut into the lead and dropped bellow .500 for the first time this season.
"We need to find a way to not feel sorry for ourselves," Heward added. "Hockey goes in streaks... we've got to find a way to tell these kids this is when you bear down this is when you have to battle."
The Broncos haven't won a road game since the season opener in Regina. They've dropped six straight games away from the Credit Union iPlex.
There is one game left in this trip as they visit the Tri-City Americans on Tuesday night. You can hear it live on The Eagle 94.1 FM.
Fri, Apr 26, 10:00 AM
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