Stuart Skinner made quite an impression in his first game as a Swift Current Bronco.

The Edmonton Oilers draft pick stopped all 29 Prince Albert shots in a 4-0 Swift Current win over the Raiders. The shutout came only days after Lethbridge dealt him to Swift Current as part of a blockbuster deal.

“What a great start for him,” said Broncos Associate Coach Ryan Smith. “A lot of pressure on him as the goalie making a change of that we got rid of a pretty good goalie in (Logan Flodell). Stuart came in and established the crease early. I thought his angles were good. There were no rebounds. He made some big saves. The guys leaned on him when they needed to and he was there for us.”

Swift Current got 2 goals and an assist from captain Glenn Gawdin leading them over the Raiders on a night where Prince Albert had guaranteed a win and were forced to hand out ticket vouchers to fans for their game tomorrow night.

“It was a good game,” Smith said. “There was a lot of pace to the game. A little bit of chippiness. It felt like kind of a playoff game where teams were puffing their chest our trying to establish themselves. I liked our game all around. Pretty solid effort from top to bottom.”

The Broncos came out flying in their first game with five new players from recent trade deadline deals. Gawdin converted the rebound of a Tyler Steenbergen chance in Steenbergen's return to action after World Juniors. Less than a minute later Kaden Elder converted a give-and-go with Aleksi Heponiemi for a 2-0 lead.

“You want to start fast,” Smith said. “I thought (Raiders goaltender Ian Scott) was good he held them in there giving them a chance to stay in the game. For sure we were hoping with the addition of all the new guys the first game on the ice with them would be a good start... I thought all the new guys stepped up and played well.”

The Broncos started to get in penalty trouble as the game carried on and were forced to kill four Raiders power plays. The addition of several new veteran faces meant that the PK wasn't as taxing on their lineup as it has been before.

“On the PK tonight we had a lot more options,” Smith said. “We got rolling and we got different guys involved. We lost one of our best penalty killers in Glenn (Gawdin) a couple times to penalties tonight and it didn't phase us. That was a big thing for us tonight is the depth.”

Colby Sissons gave the Broncos some insurance on a nice pinch and shot for his 9th of the season in the second period. Gawdin then ended the game with a late empty-net goal.

The Broncos looked good although it was apparent with new linemates for almost everybody the chemistry would be a process.

“It's only been a couple days and guys have to feel their way into it,” Smith said. “I thought all guys played well. There's going to be an adjustment period for everybody. We'll tinker with it and see if we can find the correct chemistry heading into the playoffs.”

The game was a Broncos debut for Skinner, Giogrio Estephan, Tanner Nagel, Andrew Fyten and Josh Anderson. Estephan lined up with Heponiemi and Elder, Nagel played the right side with Gawdin and Steenbergen, while Fyten centred the fourth line with Ethan Regnier and Kole Gable. Anderson paired up with Sahvan Khaira on a twosome that could be physically punishing for the opposition.

The Broncos will now bring their new additions back to Swift Current for a home debut at the Innovation Credit Union iPlex on Saturday night against Edmonton.

The Oil Kings started their East Division road trip with a couple of wins over Regina and Brandon, before falling 8-2 in Red Deer.

“I know the result tonight wasn't great,” Smith said. “But they've had a pretty good road trip winning in Brandon and winning in Regina. They're going to look to bounce back after their game. They're a younger team, feisty, they're going to have something to prove after the game. For us it's our home debut with the new group so we want to continue what we did tonight and not change too much.”

Edmonton is also 1-0 in Swift Current this season having snapped the Broncos' eight game winning streak at the start of the season.

Saturday's game will also include a pre-game tribute to Steenbergen, Heponiemi and Artyom Minulin for representing their countries well at the World Juniors. It's Steenbergen's first home game since scoring the winning goal for Canada in that event.

You can hear the game live on The Eagle 94.1 with Robertson Family Group Broncos Hockey at 6:30pm with puck drop just after 7pm in Swift Current. Ticketes will be hard to get as the Broncos reached over 2100 season tickets this week and have sold most of the walk up seats for tonight's game at press time. Check scbroncos.com or call the stable for availability.