By Nathan Kanter

North Stars squeak by Broncos despite poor 3rd period

Nov 24, 2016 | 1:17 AM

The North Stars got back in the win column on Wednesday night thanks to a 5-3 road win over Humboldt, but their 2-0 lead heading into the third period vanished and the game was nearly tied.

There were flashes of the poor third period from Saturday’s game against Estevan, which was a troubling sight for head coach Nate Bedford.

“It’s so disappointing,” said North Stars head coach Nate Bedford after the game. “You’ve played two good road periods, I thought, and you expect you’re going to pull out a real good road game and then you kind of fall apart defensively, you take a selfish penalty, you let guys get to your net way too easily, you don’t block shots, and you’re not physical whatsoever.

“It looked like a pre-season game in the third period on our part.”

There’s no question the first two periods were strong.

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Heading into the final frame, the North Stars were outshooting the Broncos 33-11 and were leading 2-0. They then got an early third period marker after a beautiful tic-tac-toe power play goal that was finished off by Ben Allen.

The teams would exchange goals to make it 4-1 halfway through the frame, but late in the period, Chris Van Os-Shaw would score two goals in under two minutes to bring the home side to within a single goal.

The North Stars were outshot in the third period 17-10.

“Everything we had talked about after the second period was exactly what we didn’t do and I felt a little bit lost to be honest with you,” Bedford said. “That third period was the perfect example of why we’re not even close to being ready to play in the playoffs.”

After the Van Os-Shaw goal, Coby Downs would take a four-minute spearing penalty to put the North Stars shorthanded for the remaining three minutes of regulation.

Fortunately, Layne Young would connect with MacGregor Sinclair for an impressive shorthanded goal to restore their two-goal lead and hold on for the win.

Young had a solid game with three assists, while Downs, Reed Delainey, and Cody Spagrud each also chipped in with two point nights.

The fact that the North Stars record is now 22-6-0 – good for first place in the league – shouldn’t be surprising, according to Bedford. With tons of veterans, including seven 20-year-olds, there’s no reason the team shouldn’t be winning most of the time.

“Look how many people we have returning. We should be great,” Bedford said. “We have a really strong team. We should win hockey games. But you’ve got to do it the right way if you want to do it at the most important time and that third period was the perfect example of why we’re not even close to being ready to play in the playoffs.”

The North Stars have now won the last 10 head-to-head meetings against Humboldt, with their last loss coming way back on Jan. 28, 2015.

With the win, goaltender Taryn Kotchorek has now won his last eight starts, improving his record to 12-2 this season. His last loss was way back on Oct. 13.

On Friday, the Notre Dame Hounds touch down on the Civic Centre, after they won 7-2 on Wednesday night in Melfort.

The last time the Hounds visited the Civic Centre, on Oct. 29, Battlefords came away with a narrow 2-1 win.