All the Swift Current Broncos needed was a strong first period as they beat the Prince Albert Raiders 5-1 on Friday night.

The Broncos scored four goals in the first period including two from Glenn Gawdin, who is now tied for the league lead in points with 99.

Beck Malenstyn and Giorgio Estephan each had a goal and an assist in the win, Matteo Gennaro added two helpers and Kaden Elder scored in his return to the lineup.

“I thought we came out of the gates really well,” Malenstyn said. “First periods have been something we've talked about in the room... happy to come out and score a couple goals, get a little lead under us. We let it slip a little bit there as we went probably relaxed a little bit with a 5-1 lead, but all-in-all we're happy with the win and a good start to the weekend.”



In Malenstyn's mind there was no magic strategy to the strong first period the Broncos had.

“We kept it really simple actually as boring as it sounds,” Malenstyn said. “We have such a skilled team that when we make simple plays and play fast with each other things seem to open up really well and our skill takes over. We were moving, moving the puck and it worked out for us.”

That quick play is something the Broncos focused on during a rare six day break from game action.

“We were just playing fast,” said Broncos Associate Coach Ryan Smith. “We were first to pucks and we hounded the puck in their end. We talked about that this week had a long week of practice for the first time in a while. We wanted to play fast and I think we established that early.”

That time to practice was perhaps a factor in Swift Current getting off to as strong a start as they did in the win.

“I'm going to assume so,” Smith said. “It gave us a few days to breathe a little bit without having a game or two games thrown in the mid week. We got some practice time, we got guys healed up and back in the lineup... it gave us a chance to work with all the guys, not just the new guys but our old guys that have been here just to refresh them on things we want to do structure-wise.”

The Broncos got Aleksi Heponiemi, Kaden Elder and Sahvan Khaira back in the lineup after recent stints on the injured list.

Stuart Skinner made 29 saves to get the win. He is now 8-3 with the Broncos and has a 2.14 goals against average to go along with a 0.930 save percentage over that time.

The win moved Swift Current to 38-13-3-1 on the season as they remain five points back of Moose Jaw for the top record in the WHL.

The Broncos host the Brandon Wheat Kings on Saturday in Gawdin's 300th WHL game. It will likely be in front of another sold-out crowd after a full building of 2890 fans took in the win over Prince Albert.

You can listen to that game live on The Eagle 94.1 FM with Robertson Family Group Swift Current Broncos Hockey at 6:30 p.m.