The Buccaneers opened the scoring off the stick of Dylan McCormick 5:40 in, but Brady McIsaac responded to tie it on the power play just short of the midway mark of the period, with Jaydon Merritt and Nathan MacDonald assisting. It was 2-1 Bombers with 2:34 to play in the period when McIsaac scored again, also again on the power play from Jaydon Merritt and Nathan MacDonald. Just 1:02 later Alex Wienecke found the net for the Buccaneers to make it 2-2 after 20 minutes.
Evan Vasarhely second of the year from Nathan MacDonald made it 3-2 Bombers 2:50 into the third, and four minutes later Brendan Almer scored on the power play from Carson Steel and Grayson Erickson to double the lead to 4-2. The Buccaneers responded to get back within one at 8:03 as Alex Weinecke scored his second of the game, but Brady McIsaac restored the two goal lead with his third of the game just 30 seconds later with Jaydon Merritt and Nathan MacDonald drawing the assists to make it 5-3 Bombers after 40 minutes.
Evan Vasarhely’s second of the night made it 6-3 for the Bomb squad 2:27 into the third from Justin Osborne, and Grayson Erickson followed that up to make it 7-3 at 5:57 with Jack McKean earning the helper. Less than two minutes later Brendan Almer also scored his second of the night, with Mason Cannon assisting at 7:15. The Buccaneers made it an 8-4 game with under four to play on Dylan McCormick’s second of the night, but the Bombers made the lead stand to the buzzer.
Shots were 63-32 Bombers, with Keelan Hondro earning the win in net. The Bombers went 3 for 4 on the power play, and 3 for 4 on the penalty kill.
With the win, the Bombers overtake the Lake Cowichan Kraken for the final playoff spot in the North Division.
The teams meet tomorrow night in Lake Cowichan at 7:30
Bombers top Buccaneers 8-4, jump into fourth place
