A third period comeback came up just short for the Lloydminster Bobcats Friday night as they went toe-to-toe with the Sherwood Park Crusaders, who now sit tied for top spot in the Viterra North division.
Down 2-0 going into the third period on the road, the Cats revved up the intensity and squared the game up before Sherwood Park quickly responded with the game winner.
The Scoring got underway in the latter stages of the first period when a bouncing puck wound up on the backhand of Brett Wieschorster and he slid the puck past Curtis Meger.
The score held at 1-0 after one period of play, and continued to stay that way until the midway point of the second.
Again, it was a bouncing puck that worked its way out from behind the goal line hitting Mason Waite and landing on the stick of William Zapernick on top of the crease, who made no mistake making it 2-0 Cru.
Having chances early on and not being able to convert, the Bobcats changed their fate early in the third.
Goals just 43 seconds apart from Ty Mosimann and Tucker Scantlebury suddenly put the Cats back on in ground 2-2, leading the Crusaders to use their timeout.
The timeout worked wonders for Sherwood Park. Not quite two minutes after Lloydminster tied the game, Carter Savoie and Garrett Clegg broke in on a 2-on-1. Savoie passed the puck across to Clegg and he beat Meger high blocker side.
The Clegg goal would stand as the game-winning goal.
The Crusaders outshot Lloydminster 49-23 as Meger made 46 saves in the loss.
The Bobcats finished the game 0 for 1 on the power-play, while the Crusaders finished 0 for 4.
The season will continue Saturday night Lloydminster with a road game in Fort McMurray against the Oil Barons.
It will be the third and final game of the season for the Cats in Fort McMurray.