The Swift Current Broncos were fighting from behind all game in a 7-4 loss to the visiting Brandon Wheat Kings on Tuesday.
The Broncos fell behind in the second minute of action when Nicholas Johnson scored his 10th goal on a wrist shot and Marcus Nguyen doubled the lead midway through the period with his 26th goal.
The Wheat Kings added to the lead early in the second period with a Giorgos Pantelas goal. That goal ended the night of Reid Dyck as he finished with 11 saves on 14 shots to fall to 17-17-1-0. Otto Hanson got the Broncos on the board with a goal from the slot, his first Western Hockey League goal. The Wheat Kings quickly restored the lead with a Dominik Petr breakaway goal with a well placed shot to the blocker side of Joey Rocha. Carlin Dezainde fired home a power play goal for a 4-2 score after two periods.
The Wheat Kings added another power play goal only 16 seconds into the third period off the stick of Petr on the rush. The Broncos replied with a power play goal from Hunter Mayo and then made a game of it when Grayson Burzynski broke through the Wheat Kings for his eighth goal to make it a one-goal game. The Wheat Kings closed the door on the comeback with a Nolan Flamand power play goal and an empty net goal from Nguyen to cap his four-point outing.
Rocha finished the game with 14 saves on 17 shots over 36:19.
Ethan Eskit made 20 saves on 24 shots to improve to 10–3-1-3 for Brandon.
The Broncos fell to 27-21-1-1 to remain eighth in the Eastern Conference. Brandon improved to 26-16-4-3 to move within one point of the East Division leaders.
