Although Liam McCloskey turned aside 31 shots and Kobe Walker scored his third goal of the season, the Lloydminster Bobcats dropped a 2-1 decision at the Grant Fuhr Arena to the Spruce Grove Saints.
It is the Bobcats third loss this season to the North Division’s second best team currently.
As they had in the first two meetings, the Saints found their way on to the board first.
After generating a cycle in the Lloydminster zone, Cam Mitchell fired a hard slap pass in the direction of Saint’s Captain Josh Harris who deflected the puck past McCloskey midway through the first period.
The score remained 1-0 for nearly the entire middle frame, however, a pair of late period penalties but the Bobcats in a a tough position.
With 57 seconds remaining a Mike MacLean cross-checking penalty, Evan Wood was called for boarding, putting the Cats down two men late in the period.
Right at the second penalty was about to expire, Spruce Grove’s Garan Magnes riffled a one-timer from the blue line into the back of the Bobcats net to give the Saints a 2-0 lead with only 22 second left in the period.
Midway through the third, Lloydminster was awarded their own 5-on-3 opportunity and made no mistake.
Lloydminster’s own Kobe Walker took a back door pass from Rob Johnson and beat Saint’s goalie Parker Tobin cutting the deficit to one.
However, that would be as close as the Bobcats would get as they fell 2-1.
The Saints outshot the Bobcats 33-12 in the contest.
On the power-play, Lloydminster finished 1 for 2, while the Saints were 1 for 4.
The game also brought an end to Chris Van Os-Shaw’s 14 game point streak, as the Bobcats held the Regina product pointless.
The Cats will now head south to begin a four game in five days road trip, which will start Wednesday night in Brooks.
