In the midst of the a busy homestand, games being postponed in the league, and the trade deadline coming up on Monday, the Kindersley Jr. Klippers welcomed the Melville Millionaires to town for their fourth and final meeting of the season. After playing two very complete games since their return from holidays, the Klippers seemed to have lost something they had in the second period as they lost 4-3.

The first period didn't start great. In the first ten minutes of the game, the Klippers weren't generating shots, they were still getting the puck out of their zone and into offensive territory and sweeping away second opportunities in their own zone, but they went down in the shot clock 5-1 early.

Six minutes in, Carson Baylis took the first penalty of the game on a hooking call and the Klippers went to the penalty kill, and that was killed off quickly which started to build a little more momentum their way and the rest of the period would play out fairly even.

Around the twelve minute mark would be a bad omen of things to come later in the game when the Klippers got their first powerplay of the game. Nicholas Andrusiak was called for boarding on a hard hit to Jaxon Georget in the offensize zone, and the Klippers man advantage has looked good in recent games despite not finding the back of the net. Off the faceoff this time in the offensize zone, Andrew Blocker got the puck on the left wall and tried to centre it, but the Millionaires picked it off for a breakaway the other direction, and Brayden Koch took what was likely a goal saving slashing call as he chased down the Millionaires penalty killer and ended the Klippers' powerplay eight seconds after it started.

After 1: Klippers 0 - 0 Millionaires, shots 12-8 Millionaires

Another similar penalty situation started the second period for the Klippers. They got a powerplay when Cole Laroque was called for interference, but then 19 seconds later Logan Linklater was called for a trip while battling for the puck, and the powerplay was over.

The 4-on-4 ended and the Millionaires seemed to have all the momentum in the world. Just over five minutes in, that momentum would build even more when Millionaires defenceman Colby Ball entered the zone and fired a wrist shot at the net from out wide and it slipped by Matt Pesenti, giving the Millionaires the lead.

Just short of three minutes later, and the Millionaires scored again. Faceoff to Pesenti's right, the puck bounced around towards the slot off the draw and Noah Wills managed to find the loose puck for a backhand at Pesenti who made the first stop, but the rebound kicked out to his right and no one was able to sweep it away before Charles-Thomas Larochelle found it and put it into the back of the net.

Another 21 seconds later, and the Millionaires scored again. Noah Lindsay brought the puck past centre off the faceoff and worked it around the offensize zone behind the net, but the Millionaires stole it and went up ice. Defenceman Breckin Den Hartog lead the rush down the left side and sent a centering pass for Colby Garner who fanned on the shot, but Kyle Bochek following up fired and scored to give the Millionaires a 3-0 lead in the span of 3:09 and before the halfway mark of the period.

From here on out, it was all Millionaires. After the halfway point of the period, the Klippers didn't register a single shot with the lone exception being Jaxon Georget who stole the puck shorthanded for a breakaway and missed the net on his shot. Lots of penalties were called, the Klippers gave up a brief 4-on-3 opportunity, and they couldn't get anything going.

In the final two minutes of the period, Zach Cain crashed the net and ran into Pesenti in the crease and Nathan DeGraves took exception, and the two dropped the gloves. DeGraves landed a couple clean shots first before Cain could fire back near the end, and DeGraves would earn an extra penalty for crosschecking before to start the fight.

After 2: Klippers 0 - 3 Millionaires, shots 26-4 Millionaires in the period, 38-12 Millionaires overall

The Millionaires started the third period on the powerplay with Josh Danis still in the box serving DeGraves' crosscheck, and off the opening draw Georget streaked up ice for a quick chance that looked like better things were on the horizon for the Klippers. Instead, the puck went the other way and Colby Ball took a shot from the blueline that was tipped along the way by Jake Spak, and it went into the back of the net with one second left in the powerplay just 39 seconds into the period.

Then, the Klippers finally found a spark. They had some time in the offensive zone to set up and Logan Linklater made a great pass from the left side of the ice to the right for Ethan Hilbig on the side wall. He looked in front and fired a hard pass for his brother Tylin Hilbig who just tipped it in followed by an emphatic celebration, and the Klippers seemed to have life.

The next spark for the Klippers came with some bad news as going behind his net to pick up the puck, Liam Bell was high sticked in the mouth badly to the point where he would leave the game, and Colby Garner would leave the game with a five minute major on the board for the Klippers to work with.

On two prior powerplays in the game, the Klippers had a combined time of 27 seconds before their powerplays were cut short by penalties of ther own, so this seemed to be their first real chance. It wasn't their best powerplay for the five minutes by no means, but they did generate some chances and keep some offensize zone time with Linklater putting one off a stick in front and off the pad, and another opporuntiy forcing goaltender Alexis Giroux to lay down flat to cover up a puck that he didn't know where it was.

They did manage to get one back with two seconds left on the man advantage when the Millionaires tried to clear the puck and everyone of the Klippers left the zone except for Andrew Blocker who held the line on the left. Coletyn Boyarski came streaking in from centre and Blocker fed him in alone, and Boyarski tucked it home to give the Klippers a chance with over half the period left.

Then 13 minutes in, Linklater would add another to get his team back to within one. Breaking out of his own zone, Linklater sent the puck wide left side for Matt Mazzocchi who entered the zone down the left, and he tried to put it ahead into the middle for Boyarski, but the puck hit a man and dropped back perfectly for Linklater in the high slot. He fired a low shot that went post and in, and suddenly the Klippers were back to within one. 

Suddenly the Klippers had life, and they poured on the pressure in the final six minutes of the game. They even got one last break to try and tie it with less than a minute left as Aiden Robson went to the box, and the Klippers would pull Matt Pesenti for the extra man. The Klippers got shots through, but the game would end after a faceoff with one second left was won by the Millionaires and swept to the open wall.

FINAL: Klippers 3 - 4 Millionaires, shots 9-7 Klippers in the period, 45-21 Millionaires overall

Although the Klippers have looked good defensively in their two games prior, they have now given up at least 39 shots in their last three straight games for a combined total of 125. On those 125 shots, Pesenti has stopped 119 of them for an impressive 95.2% save percentage in his first three games back with the team.

Karson Blanchette was in the lineup for his third straight game as a Klipper playing on a line with Lindsay and Georget. While he was by no means bad for the Klippers in this game, he'd see limited ice time in the third period while more experienced players were put on for the tying push.

Josh Morton's return to the lineup has looked solid for the Klippers. While adding some physical presense to the backend with a couple hits in this game, his puck handling ability has really been on display when there were a couple moments where it didn't look like the big 6'3 defender wasn't going to slip through, but stayed with the puck and used his reach to keep it on his stick.

Speaking of physical presence, Noah Lindsay brought an edge to his game against Melville that he hadn't had before coming in. He laid three of the biggest hits of the game and was physical in every zone of the ice all night.