The Swift Current Broncos were a model of inconsistency in a 6-5 loss to the visiting Prince Albert Raiders on Friday. The Broncos led 2-0 and fought back from a two-goal deficit in the third period, but were ultimately undone by a Tomas Mrcic hat trick, including the game winner.
Both teams scored twice in the opening frame. The Broncos opened the game with a Brady Birnie goal, his 15th, on a perfect cross-ice pass from Luke Mistelbacher. The Broncos doubled the lead midway through the period when Ty Coupland deposited a Daxon Yerex cross-crease feed for his ninth goal. The Raiders quickly answered with a Mrsic goal and then tied the game with a Luke Moroz goal 2:16 later.
The Broncos ran into penalty problems in the second period and fell behind by two goals on power play markers from Aiden Oiring and Mrsic. The Broncos answered with their own power play goal when defenseman Josh McGreggor converted a rebound off the end boards for his second goal of the season. The Raiders restored the two-goal margin with a partial breakaway goal from Oiring with 1:01 remaining in the middle stanza.
The Broncos came back to tie the game in the third period with a power play goal from Rylan Gould as a point shot deflected off his torso and in and then Caswell found the top corner with a one-timer. The comeback was spoiled by Mrsic’s third goal with 2:52 remaining in the regulation.
Reid Dyck fell to 10-7-0-0 with 25 saves. Max Hildebrand made 23 saves to improve to 10–6-3-0.
The Broncos fell to 14-10-0-0 with their third straight loss, while Prince Albert improved to 10-8-3-0.
The Broncos will visit the Saskatoon Blades on Saturday.
