The Red Deer Rebels found a different way to arrive at the same result Saturday night in Vancouver.
This time it was a 4-3 shootout loss, their eighth in a row to the Vancouver Giants.
Coming into the game, Vancouver had lost four straight and the Rebels seven, but the Red Deer streak now continues into the final game of this road trip Tuesday in Prince George.
Ty Ronning and Jack Flaman scored for the Giants in the shootout while for the Rebels Michael Spacek and Evan Polei failed to convert.
Red Deer ran into a hot goalie in Vancouver, as Ryan Kubic relieved David Tendeck who allowed two goals in the first. Kubic finished as the first star on the night and made 35 saves on 36 shots.
The Rebels dealt with a slow start again, as the Giants jumped on them early with a goal just 56 seconds into the game. Unlike their past few games, Red Deer responded quickly with two goals just 1:28 apart.
Lane Zablocki had the first and in front of a large contingent of family and friends, Akash Bains got the second Rebels goal, his eighth of the season.
Ronning then tied the game with only six seconds left in the middle period. Zablocki scored his 20th goal of the year at 5:06 of the third before Tyler Popowich tied the game at three.
There was a lengthy delay in the third period with just under five minutes to play after a pane of glass broke at the Langley Events Centre.
Red Deer had plenty of chances late in the third as well as overtime, but Kubic stood tall to deny the Rebels.
The shootout has not been kind to Red Deer this season as they have lost all four games that have gone that far this season.
One final game of the road trip for the Rebels goes on Tuesday night in Prince George.
byron.hackett@www.reddeeradvocate.com