Eetu Laurikainen

After giving up 16 goals in his previous four starts, Swift Current Broncos goaltender Eetu Laurikainen was back in form stopping 26 of 27 Edmonton shots in a 3-1 victory on Saturday.

He says his team was playing better hockey in front of him than they had been on a very tough US Division road trip.

"A lot better than on the road," Laurikainen said. "We had it in our mindset that this was a playoff game... we blocked so many shots I'm so proud of my guys. We played good defence."

"When the pucks can't get through they don't get the chance to get the rebounds. We just tried to hold the middle tight."

Laurikainen admitted he was frustrated by the amount of goals he let in during that trip to Washington and Oregon.

"I don't usually allow that many goals," he said. "I don't want to allow that many goals and I got a little bit frustrated. It was good to get the win."

Laurikainen is 4-7-0-1 with a 2.99 goals against average and 0.914 save percentage. Those numbers are down slightly from his statistics last season, but they were skewed by a road trip where the Broncos gave up nearly as many goals in five games as they had allowed in their previous ten. 

Swift Current is back in action Tuesday in Lethbridge. They haven't won on the road since their season opener in Regina.

"I think we just got to go on what we did (against Edmonton)," Laurikainen said. "Play good D and just get pucks to the net."

We'll have more Broncos talk during Home Hardware's Overtime Monday night from 6-7pm on The Eagle 94.1 FM and live at Boston Pizza.