The Bismarck Bobcats took their final road trip to Forest Lake for the 2025-26 season this past weekend.
The 1st period didn’t play out the way the Bobcats were hoping for as just over 2 minutes into the contest, the Mallards would strike first on a nice backhand shot under the crossbar to take a 1-0 lead in the game. That was just the 2nd time all season that the opposing team has scored the 1st goal of the game against the Cats. Bismarck, while they outshot the Mallards 10-7 in the opening period, found themselves down 1-0 heading into the 2nd. This was also the 1st time the Bobcats found themselves down after 20 minutes of action all season long.
Things slowed down in the 2nd period, the Mallards outshot the Bobcats 8-5 in the period, but the Bobcats would once again found the net on the power play with just over 3 minutes remaining in the middle frame. Cooper Williams set up in his wheelhouse at the top of the right-wing circle and Charlie Kresl found him as Williams one-timed it top shelf to tie the game up at 1 heading into the 3rd period.
Neither team wanted to make a mistake in the 3rd and nothing separated the two sides as neither team would find the back of the net. We headed into overtime 1-1 with shots even at 23 a side. This would be the 1st post-regulation contest of the season for the Bobcats. As for the Mallards this was their 3rd straight contest at least notching one point in the standings.
The Bobcats would be whistled for a goaltender interference call as Charlie Kresl was nudged into Mallards goaltender William Lubimov. Luckily for the Bobcats they were able to kill it off and with under a minute remaining, George Poirier would be the hero firing a shot from the top of the left-wing circle which went off the glove of Lubimov and into the back of the net. The Bobcats would gain the extra point in the standings and notch their 6th win in their last 7 games.
Dane Callaway notched his 2nd straight victory in between the pipes stopping 25/26 en route to the win.
Moving ahead to Saturday’s contest, the Bobcats looked to extend their win streak to 4 games.
The offense wasn’t really there for either team throughout the opening 15 minutes of the contest as the shots read 5-4 in favor of Bismarck, but with just under 5 minutes left the Mallards, for the 2nd straight game, would open the scoring. Bryce Wiitala read a pass at the blue line, intercepted the puck and was off to the races on a breakaway where he beat goaltender Kai Weigel to make it a 1-0 contest. Just as soon as Minnesota took the lead, however, they lost it. 40 seconds later Ben Osiashvili was able to force a turnover in the defensive zone, push the puck to the corner boards and find Kresl who was all alone inside the hash marks and he made no mistake tucking it home into the back of the net to tie the game at 1 heading into the intermission. The Bobcats outshot the Mallards 9-6 in the opening period.
Both teams received a power play in the 2nd period, the first opportunity went the way of the Mallards and the Bobcat penalty kill was able to shut them down. The Bobcats only needed 37 seconds on their man advantage before finding the back of the net as Kresl received a pass at the base of the left-wing circle and fired it toward the front of the net, Fanda Broz had his stick in perfect position as he deflected it home to give the Bobcats a 2-1 lead. The Mallards would do a nice job in response, but Weigel shut the door on all 11 shots he saw in the 2nd period of action. Each team had 17 shots on goal after 40 minutes.
The Mallards continued their pressure into the 3rd period, but the Bobcats for the first 15 minutes of the 3rd were able to keep them at bay. Then Delaurentis would once again strike for the Mallards on a back-door feed to tie the game up at 2 with 4 minutes remaining. Not even a minute later, Wiitala would notch his 2nd of the contest on a seeing-eye shot that just barely squeaked past Weigel to give the Mallards the lead once again. Just as we said before, however, as soon as the Mallards gained the lead, they lost it. Broz struck once again 45 seconds after the Wiitala goal in front of the net as he beat Hunter Bauer to take us to overtime.
Just over a minute into the extra session the Bobcats were whistled for a penalty for the 2nd straight night. Luckily, the penalty kill came up big once again and was able to kill it off. Then with 18 seconds left, the Mallards were whistled for a penalty, but the Bobcats were unable to convert, sending us to the first shootout of the 2025-26 season.
Both goaltenders stood tall through 3 rounds, but it would be Poirier in the 4th round finally breaking the deadlock as he went five-hole on Bauer, putting the pressure on Delaurentis. Weigel was able to stop him with the pad and the Bobcats earned the extra point and the weekend sweep.
The Bobcats move to 9-4-0 on the season after the weekend sweep and are back in action next Friday and Saturday against the Aberdeen Wings on the road. Puck drop is set for 7:15 P.M. on both nights. Tickets for future Bobcat games can be purchased at the following link, https://tickets.bismarckbobcats.com or by calling/texting the Bobcat Hotline at 701-390-7422.