Despite a third period Fort McMurray rally, the Lloydminster Bobcats ultimately came away with their first win of the 2018/19 season, downing The MOB 4-3 in a shoot-out.
Austin Lamotte and Zach Kaiser both found the back of the net in the shoot-out, while Cale Elder denied both Reed Morison and Kole Gable securing a Lloydminster win Saturday night at the Civic Centre.
Having only been able to notch a season of 22 shots in a game so far this season, the Bobcats put plenty of rubber on Oil Baron’s rookie goalie Josh Dias, who was making his AJHL debut.
Just 29 seconds into the contest, a Zach Ziegler shot from the slot deflected off a body and on to the stick of Tucker Scantlebury who buried his first goal of the season on the first shot of the game.
Then with under three minutes to play in the opening frame, Rylan Nivon scored his third goal of the season, extending the Cats advantage to 2-0. The goal gave Lloydminster their first two goal lead of the season.
However, the Oil Barons would net the only goal of the second period when Peter Tomaras converted on a Bobcats giveaway, cutting the lead in half.
Playing in the third, Austin Lamotte and Hunter Lamb broke in for the Cats on a 2-on-1, with Lamotte sending a pass out front for Lamb, who made know mistake, tipping home his first career AJHL goal.
Unfortunately, special teams went on to burn the Bobcats later in the frame. With just over seven minutes to play, Reed Morison scored a short-handed goal, before Brendan Stafford scored on a Fort McMurray power-play a little over two minutes later to tie the game 3-3.
Following some late chances, neither team was able to bury the go-ahead goal sending the game into extra time.
After a scoreless 3-on-3 session, the Bobcats then secured their first win in the shoot-out.
Lloydminster finished the game 0-4 on the power-play, while The MOB went 1-6. Fort McMurray went on to out shoot the Cats 38-35.
Next up for Lloydminster is Tuesday night trip to Drayton Valley to battle the Thunder.