It was a tough night for the Lloydminster Bobcats in Drumheller on the scoreboard and injury wise against the Dragons.
Not only did they fall 5-2 to the home-town Dragons, but they also lost Connor Odelein and Braydon Jenkins due to injury during the contest. Neither returned during the contest.
Just over six minutes into the game, Markus Boguslavsky hit Odelein into the boards and received a 5 minute major for boarding and a game misconduct.
Unfortunately for the Cats, the Dragons found their way onto the board shortly after the penalty. While the two teams were 4-on-4, Tyler Kreklwich beat Bobcats starter Pierce Diamond to give Drum a 1-0 lead.
Seven minutes later the Dragons doubled their lead to 2-0 when Brett Edwards one-timed a puck into the Lloydminster goal.
With under five minutes go in the opening frame, the Bobcats trimmed the lead in half. Following a scramble off an offensive zone draw, Rylan Nivon was able to direct the puck by Dragon’s goalie Hunter Virostek for his second goal of the season.
In the second period, both teams exchanged chances but neither were able to convert, that was until Brady Risk found the back of the net with just under four minutes to go in the frame, giving the Dragons a 3-1 lead.
Just a few minutes later, Drumheller was issued their second game misconduct of the night. Bobcats forward Braydon Jenkins was driven into the boards by Dawson Bruneski, who received a minor for hitting from behind and a game misconduct.
Trailing 3-1 after two period of play, despite outshooting the Dragons 20-19, the Bobcats deficit increased in the third.
On a man-advantage, Edwards buried his second of the night to extend the Drumheller lead to 4-1.
In the later stages, the Bobcats were able to narrow the gab to two. With 2:54 to go in the final frame, Reid Irwin fired a shot towards the goal, which appeared to catch up a piece of Carson Franklin before getting past Virostek. The goal was awarded to Irwin.
With the game clock winding down, Lloydminster was unable to get Diamond to the bench for the extra attacker before the Dragons put the game out of reach with a Kaden Hanas goal.
With a only a couple second remaining in the game, and tempers beginning to flare, the refs decided to run the final 2.2 off the clock bringing an end to the game.
Diamond made 24 saves on 29 shots, while Virostek stopped 23 of the 25 shots he faced.
The Bobcats finished the contest 0 for 5 on the power-play, while the Dragons went 1 for 5.
Next up for Lloydminster will be a visit to Camrose tomorrow to battle the Kodiaks.