Not even a natural hat trick by the slick skating Andrew Strelezki of the Ridge Meadow Flames could hold off the high-potent offence of the Mission City Outlaws on Friday at Planet Ice.
Despite the strong game by Strelezki, a Mission hockey grad, the Flames coughed up a 6-5 loss on home ice.
The Outlaws sit first overall in the Harold Brittian division and boast the league’s two top scorers in Bryce Pisiak and David McGowan, both with 22 points.
Despite what looked like it should have been a cake walk, the Flames rallied from three one-goal deficits to hang in with the Outlaws before Mission’s Pisiak buried the eventual winner with just more than five minutes left in the third.
While Strelezki’s three-goal performance was good enough to garner him the third star, it wouldn’t have been a stretch to give it to Flames goalie Jordan Hollett. The first-round pick of the Regina Pats in the 2014 WHL draft faced 61 shots Friday, 24 in the third period alone.
The Flames opened the scoring 9:29 into the first period when Nickolas Maydaniuk scored his first of the year on the power play.
Strelezki scored an unassisted marker 1:18 into the second to grab a brief lead before Mission’s offence scored two goals 29 seconds apart 6:19 into the middle frame to take a lead they would never give up.
Strelezki tied the game three 32 seconds later only to see Mission take a 4-3 lead with just 1:20 left in the second.
Strelezki tied the game 6:20 into the third to squared the contest 4-4.
After the Outlaws’ Pisiak scored on the power play with 8:10 left in the game, Flames rookie Tristan Tressel scored 59 seconds later to tie the game at five.
The Ridge Meadow Flames travel to the George Preston Arena in Langley to play the Knights Thursday, Oct. 8 at 7:30 p.m.
Next home game
The Ridge Meadow Flames host the Aldergrove Kodiaks Friday, Oct. 9 at 7:30 p.m. at Planet Ice.
