Hurricanes On Brink After 5-3 Loss to Broncos in Game 3
Lethbridge, AB – The Lethbridge Hurricanes suffered a 5-3 defeat to the Swift Current Broncos in Game 3 of their first-round playoff series on Tuesday at the ENMAX Centre.
After losing the first two games of the series on the road, the Hurricanes were hoping to hold serve on home-ice but it was the Broncos that came out firing to open Game 3 as Luke Mistelbacher scored just 37-seconds into the game to make it a 1-0 lead; Clarke Caswell and Conor Geekie earned the assists on the early tally. Swift Current continued to dominate Lethbridge in the first period and added to their lead with a power play goal at the 6:40 mark when Mistelbacher beat Harrison Meneghin through the legs with a long-range shot to make it 2-0. Late in the period, the Hurricanes found their stride and pulled to within a goal when Dylan Sydor sniped home his first of the series beating Reid Dyck low blocker with 2:15 remaining in the frame to make it a 2-1 game; Sean Tschigerl earned the lone assist on the goal. Swift Current held the edge in shots 11-10 in the opening period.
Early in the second period, the ‘Canes drew even just over a minute in as Tschigerl broke free on a shorthanded breakaway and slipped home a shot through the legs of Dyck to make it a 2-2 game; Joe Arntsen picked up the lone assist on the goal. The tie was short-lived, however, as on the same man advantage Josh Filmon buried a fortuitous bounce as he beat Meneghin to make it 3-2 just over 30-seconds after the equalizing goal. Swift Current struck again on the power play at the 8:05 mark when Mistelbacher ripped a shot from the right circle to complete his hat-trick to restore the Bronco two-goal lead; that ended the night of Meneghin was allowed four goals on 15 shots as he was replaced by Brady Smith. The Broncos scored yet another power play goal as Geekie wired a shot crossbar-and-in with 4:42 remaining in the middle frame to make it a 5-2 contest Swift Current lead. Shots in the middle frame favoured the Hurricanes 11-9.
In the third period, the Hurricanes cut the lead back to two when Brayden Edwards scored his first goal of the series at the 7:43 mark on a power play to make it 5-3; Miguel Marques – who made his series debut – and Noah Chadwick earned the assists on the goal. Lethbridge surrendered another power play to Swift Current just moments after the Edwards goal, but the Broncos failed to score as Smith made a great save with the paddle on the goal line to keep it a two-goal game. The Hurricanes pulled the goaltender late in the game for the extra attacker, but Dyck made two terrific saves on Will Sharpe and Logan Wormald as the Broncos hung on to take a series stranglehold earning a 5-3 victory.
The Hurricanes outshot the Broncos 10-9 in the third period and 31-29 in the game. Lethbridge went 1/2 on the power play while Swift Current was 4/5 with the extra man.
Three stars of the game were:
1) Broncos – #13 Luke Mistelbacher (3 goals)
2) ‘Canes – #16 Sean Tschigerl (1 goal, 1 assist)
3) Broncos – #96 Conor Geekie (1 goal, 1 assist)
The loss for the Hurricanes was their 12th straight post-season defeat dating back to March of 2019 as the ‘Canes now trail the best-of-seven series 3-0. Swift Current has now won the last five playoff games against Lethbridge dating back to their 2018 Eastern Conference Final series.
Lethbridge will welcome Swift Current in a must-win Game 4 on Wednesday at the ENMAX Centre at 7:00pm. Tickets can be purchased by visiting the ENMAX Centre Ticket Centre, by calling 403-329-SEAT (7328) or online at www.enmaxcentre.ca.
