The Weyburn Red Wings finished 2016 on a losing note, as they fell 4-2 to the Estevan Bruins Friday night. The loss is the fourth in a row for the Wings, but came about only through a lack of puck luck, and a strong display in goal by the Bruins netminder Nathan Alalouf. The Wings outshot the Bruins 30-23, and had numerous chances, especially in the final frame, but Alalouf made several strong saves to pick up the win. At the other end of the ice, Carter Phair, making his first start for the Wings in over a month, was beaten on three shots that went in off the post.

The special teams for the Red Wings, which have been woeful as of late, were on point in the game Friday night, as the Wings went 2-for-6 on the power play, and didn’t give up a power play goal to the Bruins, who have one of the top power plays in the league. The two goals from the Wings, tough, wouldn’t be enough.

Estevan opened the scoring in the first period, when Kaelen Holt ended up with the puck on his stick, and fired it towards the net. Phair got his blocker in the way, trying to deflect it to the corner. Instead, the puck careened off the right post, and into the net, giving the Bruins the lead. Weyburn pressed to try to get even, but couldn’t get the puck in to the net. The best chance came from Jake Wozney late in the period, when he redirected a point shot in mid-air past Alalouf, but caught the post at the wrong angle and bounced back out.

The Bruins would continue to gain momentum early in the second period, when Jayden Davis came in over the blue line on the right wing. He headmanned it up to Michael McChesney, who wired it in off the post over the left shoulder of Phair, making it 2-0. Estevan would make it 3-0 just over five minutes later when Johnny Witzke put a shot off the post past Phair.

Less than 30 seconds after the goal, Red Wing defenceman Jamieson Ree, playing against the Bruins for the first time, delivered a crushing hit on Bruins forward Matthew Kesslering. After the whistle, Holt took exception to the hit, and instigated a fight with Ree. Both would be given a five-minute major for fighting, and a game misconduct, despite no real punches being thrown in the scrum.

The fight did seem to spark the Wings, and they took back some of the momentum from the Bruins. A power play chance in the second half of the period saw captain Mike Eskra score his 5th of the season, as his point shot made it through all the traffic in front of Alalouf, and into the back of the net, putting the Wings on the board.

Weyburn continued to press, looking to score again. They would get a chance just past the halfway mark of the third, wen Cole Woodliffe’s 13th of the year came on the power play. Woodliffe re-directed a shot from Braden Mellon past Alalouf, pulling the Wings within one. That would be all the Wings could muster, though, as the Bruins employed a trap to keep the Wings hemmed in their own zone.

With less than a minute left on the clock, the Bruins put all five skaters into the neutral zone, and the Wings were unable to put together a rush, as the clogged centre was impassable. Instead, with 5.5 seconds on the clock, Zach Goberis scored into the empty net to give the Bruins the 4-2 final.

The two teams will meet again Sunday night for the back half of the annual New Year’s home and home. The game will start at 3:00 p.m. at Crescent Point Place. You will be able to listen to the game live on Red Wing Radio K106, starting with the pregame show at 2:50 p.m.