Had it not been for Estevan's Ryan Andersen scoring a hat trick and one assist, Dylan Smith's six-point effort and four assists from Mark Cross, the Battlefords North Stars would've been in position to win the first game of a two-game road trip to southern Saskatchewan.
Andersen, who was traded at the deadline last season, has been having a breakout campaign offensively and leads the league with 19 goals and is second in overall points with 30.
Before Andersen killed the North Stars in the third period Wednesday night, the game appeared to be going right for the North Stars.
Tim Rollins pounced on a rebound in the first period and put the visiting team in front 1-0. Brody Luhning and Kyle Hall had the helpers on Rollins' fourth of the season.
After 20 minutes, Graham Hildebrand faced six shots and had his team in the lead while Joel Danyluk stopped 11 shots.
Midway through the second, Estevan got on the board when Smith beat Hildebrand.
The North Stars didn't take long to respond, as Hall netted his sixth of the season from Tony Oak and Travis Sparrow.
The North Stars took a two-goal lead nearly three minutes later, as Shayne Morrissey scored his sixth of the season from Robbie Newton and Samuel Houle.
The North Stars looked poised to go into the second intermission up two-goals, but with less than two minutes left in the period and the North Stars battling to kill off a cross checking minor, Smith scored his second of the game.
After two periods the North Stars led the Bruins 3-2.
In the third frame, the North Stars wasted no time in retaking the two-goal lead, as Travis Cech continued to carry the hot hand and scored his fourth of the season from Woody Klassen and Tanner Schwab.
Nine seconds later marked the beginning of a big period for Estevan's Andersen, as he beat Hildebrand for his first of the game. Four minutes later, Andersen drew an assist on Smith's hat trick goal and Estevan had tied the game. Minutes later, Andersen capped off a play from Smith and Cross and put Estevan in front 5-4.
The North Stars battled to tie the game with nearly four minutes left. Cody Folstad's third of the season was assisted by Cech.
The game appeared to be heading to overtime, but it was another late-period goal, this time with 31 seconds left, and Estevan finished off the North Stars. Andersen scored his hat trick goal from Smith and Cross once again.
Hildebrand was the losing goalie after making 26 saves and Danyluk made 20 stops for the win.
In the post-game interview, North Stars head coach and general manager Ken Pearson sounded like, for the most part, he was happy with his team's effort. But it was a bad third period with a few defensive breakdowns and a couple goals Hildebrand would maybe like to have back that proved to be the difference.
The loss makes it four straight on the road for the North Stars, three of which were by 6-5 scores.
The North Stars had a second chance to do right by their coach and split the road trip, as they played in Weyburn Wednesday. The North Stars took a 7-11-1-1 record into Weyburn to play the 10-9-0-1 Red Wings. So far this season both teams have won once on the road in the head-to-head matchup.
The next action for the North Stars will be Friday when they entertain Melville at the Civic Centre for the first time this season.
Before the road trip began, one North Star received some praise from the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League. Luhning was named the Sher-wood Defenceman of the Week. He had three goals and three assists in three games, two of which the North Stars won on home ice. Luhning has a total of six goals and 11 assists and is fourth overall on the team in points. He becomes the second North Star this season to earn player of the week honours. Zach McLellan was named the Sher-wood Defenceman of the Week for the week of Sept. 20 to 26.
