Although the Weyburn Red Wings largely carried the play on Friday, October 25, the Estevan Bruins were still right in the game until quite literally the last minute in Weyburn. They seemed ready to force overtime, but one of their ex-players had other ideas. 

Nikolas Sombrowski, traded by the Bruins earlier in the season, scored the go-ahead goal with just 21 seconds to play, and the Bruins fell 2-1, losing for the second time in two tries in Weyburn on the campaign. Brady Nicholas scored the lone Bruins goal, while Keenan Rancier gave his team a chance with 36 saves on 38 shots. 

Much like they did in the first meeting between the two teams, Weyburn struck early, just 4:26 in. A breakdown in the neutral zone led to a Wings 3-on-2 rush, and Rhett Frey threaded the puck through the seam to Mathieu Belanger for the early 1-0 lead. 

The Bruins response in the most even period of the contest came 12 minutes later. Off a face-off, Hunor Torzsok fed the puck back to Austin King-Cunningham, who fired the puck on goal. Nicholas was parked in front and got just the edge of his stick on it to tip the puck past Noah Decottignies.

Slowly but sure, the Red Wings began to take control in the second period. A few power plays, which did not generate any goals but helped them pile up shots, tilted the shot count in the Red Wings favor. By the end of the second, they had a 27-19 lead in that department, but the score remained tied. 

The physicality so synonymous with the Highway 39 rivalry revved up in the third, with big hits and reverse hits aplenty. The officials let most of it go, including Isaiah Thomas getting hauled down on a partial break, but the Bruins were penalized twice in the back half of the third.

Still, Rancier and the Bruins penalty killers hung on. They killed off the clock down to its final 21 seconds, when a faceoff came to Rancier’s right. Wasting no time, Belanger chopped it toward the goal, firing it right off the faceoff. Rancier made the save, but the Red Wings piled in after the rebound and forced it behind the net. Before Rancier could recover, Sombrowski picked the puck out of the pile and wrapped it home for the winner.

With almost no time to work with, the Bruins went right to the attack, but again the ex-Bruin came back to bite them as Sombrowski sealed the puck against the wall and erased most of the remaining time to seal the win. 

The Bruins fall to 4-8-1-1 on the season. They drop their second straight against the Wings, but have a shot at revenge immediately at 7:30 on Saturday night at Affinity Place.