It wasn't exactly how they wanted to do it, but the Eagle Drilling Estevan Bruins stayed perfect at home Sunday night. On the legs of a Ryan Andersen third period hat trick, the Bruins came from behind to beat the Flin Flon Bombers 4-3, improving their home record to 4-0 this season.
It was a heated affair on Sunday, and the two clubs combined for 78 minutes in penalties. In fact, for a while it looked as though the game was on the brink of turning into a full-fledged brawl with hits from behind, spears, butt-ends and scrums after almost every whistle.
After the game, Bruins' head coach Karry Biette said it's tough to play when the game gets out of hand like that.
"When things start reeling, you've got to make sure everybody's onside, and we don't lose our composure," he said. "At the same time I just felt it was a poorly reffed hockey game. I thought he did a bad job; he lost control very early, nobody knew what was a call and what wasn't, and it makes it hard to play."
Most of the melee took pace in the second period, and a good number of the calls were against Estevan. Captain Troy Hunter, who scored the Bruins' first goal was ejected for a hit from behind and Ty Ariss was in the penalty box for the majority of the period after being given two minutes for roughing, two for a blow to the head, and a 10-minute misconduct.
Thanks to some questionable calls, the Bruins found themselves shorthanded for a lot of the first two periods, and paid the price. The Bombers scored twice on the power play, and held a 3-1 lead heading into the third period.
The tides changed in Estevan's favour in the final frame, and it was Flin Flon who found themselves in the box for the majority of the third.
And that is essentially when Andersen took over, scoring three goals in three different situations. The first came on the power play, the second at even strength and the third, shorthanded. He also added an assist for a four-point night and was named the game's first star.
It was Andersen's second hat trick of the year, and ironically they both came in home games, during the third period with his team trailing 3-1. He said he's not sure what comes over him in those types of situations, but whatever it is, it's working.
"I don't know, desperate hockey I guess," laughed Andersen. "We should be playing like that the whole game, but it's good to see the boys battle back and everything. It's a great 'W' and hopefully we can keep everything going."
It goes without saying, but without Andersen's six goals in those two games, the Bruins would be staring at two losses instead of two victories. Because of that, Biette had nothing but praise for his offensive sniper.
"When we're 3-1 down at home, he just kicks 'er into high gear and away he goes, said Biette. "Three goals against Melville, three goals here against Flin Flon, he just puts the team on his back, and it just seems in the third he shuts the brain off and just does what he does and things happen for him."
Lost in Andersen's hat trick and the come from behind victory was the play of goaltender Shea Cooper. The Bruins' back-up got his second start of the season and made 34 saves to help his team secure the win. Cooper, who earned his first win of the season said he knew that if he just played his game, the club could turn things around and battle back.
"Just the fact that I have so much confidence in this team coming back all the time, I knew if I could shut the door for one period that we could come back," said Cooper.
Estevan's win over Flin Flon came after a 3-2 loss in Weyburn on Friday night, which just so happened to be their third loss in a row on the road, and something Biette is obviously none too pleased about.
"We're three games in on the road, we've lost all three," he said. "It's definitely a concern, definitely something we want to look at. The first two were 5-2, 5-2 and this one 3-2 and we have to create some offence on the road, we're not going to win scoring two goals, plain and simple."
The Bruins will try to turn their road woes around when they face the Terriers in Yorkton tonight. Puck drop is at 7:30.
