FLIN FLON, MB – We officially have a series.
Jacob Vockler set the pace with three assists in his second game back from injury and Alexi Sylvestre snapped an eight-game goal slump with the winner as the Flin Flon Bombers downed the Melfort Mustangs 5-2 in Game 5 Saturday.
After trailing the Mustangs 3-0 in the Canterra Seeds Cup Final, the set now sits at 3-2.
The atmosphere at the Whitney Forum was electric from the start and Riley Niven’s shorthanded breakaway finish at 18:30 of the first period to give the home side the lead only exacerbated it.
A gorgeous individual effort by Melfort’s Aidyn Hutchinson tied it 1:11 later, and when Mustangs forward Danton Cox jammed home a loose puck in the blue paint at the 4:50 mark of the middle frame, the Flin Flon faithful were given their highest level of tension on the night.
Anthony Piccininno’s high-slot tip off a Luke Lepper point shot 1:50 after that evened the score once again.
Sylvestre’s marker was a greasy one: off his shin pads from a Vockler chip back door 4:22 from the end of the middle frame, and although Melfort piled on the pressure in the third and both teams traded chances furiously, the herculean efforts of Harmon Laser-Hume in the Bomber net, and James Venne in the Mustangs one kept the score where it was most of the final stanza.
It was a brilliant toe-drag and snipe from Carter Anderson at 18:30 that finally settled matters, and when Justin Lies banged in an empty netter off an unselfish feed from Niven a minute later, the Whitney crowd could finally breathe easy.
Flin Flon 5 Melfort 2
The scene now shifts back to Melfort’s Northern Lights Palace.
Tuesday, April 30th, 2024
- Game 6: Flin Flon Bombers @ Melfort Mustangs, 7:30 P.M. SDT
