Brett Kemp scored with 18.8 seconds to play in the third period as the Edmonton Oil Kings came from behind to hand the Swift Current Broncos their first loss of the season.

Down 3-1 in the third period, the Oil Kings rattled off three unanswered goals and stunned another loud crowd at the Innovation Credit Union iPlex with the 4-3 regulation victory.

Swift Current now falls to 8-1 after a thrilling start to the season.

"We just didn't play our game," said Broncos forward Tyler Steenbergen. "The past couple games we've gotten away from it. We're trying to be a skilled team and that's not how we need to play. We need to play a sixty-minute game and we didn't do that tonight. We're going to learn that this week in practice and we'll be better next weekend."

The Broncos beat Vancouver 1-0 on Friday before Saturday's loss to the Oil Kings. Steenbergen felt that their game had been slipping some and maybe their early success was making them a little too satisfied with how they had been playing.

"Losing this game is probably is the best thing for us this year," Steenbergen said. "Our heads were getting a little big in the room. We can't have that happen. We can't get complacent with where we're at. We've got to keep striving every day. This loss is probably the best thing for us and we're going to learn from it going into the next weekend."

The game didn't have the same kind of energy or intensity the Broncos have brought on most nights. In their sixth game in nine nights, they didn't quite have their usual intensity.

"Pretty disappointed," said Broncos associate coach Ryan Smith. "The first loss of the season and it wasn't a good game by anybody. I think we were just OK most of the night. I thought we looked a little sluggish whether we're tired we played a lot of hockey the last ten days. We didn't have that extra jump. We weren't winning a lot of puck races and they had a lot more possession than us."

Despite the sluggish pace, the Broncos were still able to pull ahead 3-1 after the second period. Steenbergen had three assists as Glenn Gawdin, Aleksi Heponiemi and Colby Sissons finished some nice plays to get Swift Current on the board.

But Swift Current only had 22 shots on net against former Broncos goaltender Travis Child and didn't put on much consistent pressure.

The game turned midway through the third period when Edmonton took advantage of a power play on a Davis Koch goal to close the gap to 3-2. Just over two minutes later Edmonton struck again when Kobe Mohr's one-timer deflected off a Swift Current player in the slot and floated over Broncos goaltender Joel Hofer before landing in the net.

The game seemed destined for overtime before Kemp took advantage of some blown assignments to bust in on Hofer and secure two points for the young Oil Kings.

"We weren't able to clear the puck and we lost assignments," Smith said. "We've been playing with the puck too much behind our own net and it's costing us. That cost us the tying goal. You'd think with a couple minutes left we'd be able to lock it down and at least get it to overtime. We just missed assignments again. You give up a goal with 18 seconds left those are tough it doesn't give you any time to rebound at all. Some individual errors, but as a team we weren't good enough."

Kemp also scored a huge goal for Edmonton late in the first period taking advantage of a Broncos turnover to strike shorthanded and at that point tied the game up.

Those two late lapses ended up being the difference on this night.

"It's never a good thing to lose," Smith said. "But if we win this one 3-2 we probably don't feel so bad and maybe play the same way. Now we've got to get back to playing north-south with speed. We need some other guys to pick up the pace. It's no secret there are three guys that are carrying the weight every night on the score sheet. It's going to dry up. Even tonight they were the main characters again. There's no push from the bottom half right now and guys have to figure it out."

Steenbergen, Gawdin and Heponiemi have combined to score 28 of Swift Current's 42 goals so far this season. They factored in on all four of their goals this weekend.

Now after a long run of games the Broncos have six days to rest and practice before heading on the road to Lethbridge and Cranbrook.

"We can fix a few things from this weekend," Smith said. "We can get some proper habits going in the right direction here and get ready for the weekend."

Hofer made 31 saves in suffering the first loss of his WHL career. Child stopped 19 Broncos shots to get the win for the 4-6 Oil Kings.

Swift Current remains on top of the Eastern Conference standings at 8-1.

The Broncos also celebrating reaching 1700 season tickets but awarding William Brewer with his season ticket for life after a draw to wrap up a successful promotion.

Click here for more audio from the broadcast

Click here for video highlights from the game