Nationals tough streak continues with losses in Billings

The Glacier Nationals were hoping to put an end to their losing streak this past weekend, with a pair of road games against the Billings Bulls. Yet, the Nationals ran into a buzz saw in Billings, as the Bulls swept the two-game set in convincing fashion.

Billings knocked off Glacier 9-1 Friday night in the first of back-to-back games between the two North American Tier 3 Hockey League teams. Then, Saturday, the Bulls completed the sweep and won their sixth consecutive games over the Nationals with a 7-0 shutout.

On Friday, the Bulls came out firing, scoring five goals in the first period, two of which came from Tristian Henrichs. Billings added three more goals in the second period and another in the third period to build a 9-0 advantage. The lone bright spot on the night for the Nationals came in the final minutes of the game, when Tyler McMahon, the team's leading scorer, finally found the net to get the Nationals on the scoreboard.

Brandon Brown got the win in net for the Bulls as he stopped 25 of the 26 shot attempts that he faced. On the other side, Mikhail Pahrebets got the loss for Glacier after giving up three goals on 17 shot attempts. Kevin Hale also played about half the game and surrendered five goals in 16 shots faced.

After demolishing the Nationals Friday, Billings defeated Glacier in similar fashion Saturday. While the Bulls only outshot Glacier by five, 34-29 in the first game of the weekend, the difference in the second game was much bigger 60-27.

And early on, the story was the same for the Nationals as they allowed Billings to score two goals in the opening period to fall behind 2-0. The Bulls then added four more in the second period. Two of those goals were scored by Chris Nicolai, who registered a hat-trick just 30 minutes into the game. Leading 6-0 after two, the Bulls tacked on a seventh goal in the third period en route the shutout victory.

Gage Overby was stellar for Billings in net and was one of the stars of the game after turning away all 27 shots on goal by Glacier. Raymond Smith was given the loss for Glacier after giving up six goals on 51 shot attempts. Pahrebets also played and gave up one goal but had eight saves.

The Nationals are now winless in 29 straight games. They will attempt to end their losing skid this Friday and Saturday, when they will host the Yellowstone Quake inside the Havre Ice Dome.