The Parkland Rangers snapped a five-game losing skid with a 4-3 win over the Pembina Valley Hawks, Saturday in Dauphin.

The Hawks grabbed an early 2-0 lead four minutes into the contest, but the Rangers tied the game before the first intermission on goals form Tavyn Boychuk and Luke Myhre.

Madden Murray gave Parkland the lead early in the second and extended it to 4-2 midway through the third with his second of the game. The Hawks added a late goal with 3:21 left to play to make it interesting, but Chase Glover shut the door the rest of the way. He finished with 27 saves.

On Sunday, Pembina Valley netted the winner with 1:15 left in regulation to escape with a 3-2 win.

The Rangers trailed 1-0 and 2-1 at the period breaks, with Murray netting Parkland’s goal. They tied the game when Dru Mushumanski scored with 2:24 left on the clock, but a turnover led to the winning goal just 1:09 later.

After falling behind early on Saturday, Rangers head coach Tyler Carefoot said the Rangers rebounded to find a way to get the win.

“They kept fighting and rebounded. And you’ve got to give them credit. We found a way to get the two points, which was huge,” he said. “We did a lot of good things, all the things that we’ve sort of been focusing on. Things are coming together, but the process of it all is a little bit slower than probably we all wanted.”

On Sunday, the message in the third period was to get pucks to the net, which they did leading to the tying goal.

But a turnover at the blueline ended up with the Hawks netting the winning goal with 1:15 left.

After a tough schedule where the Rangers played a lot of the top teams in the league, Parkland now begins to face opponents closer to their skill level, which will, hopefully, lead to better results.

“Guys are starting to feel a little bit better about themselves. And it’s hard. You go 0-6 and players aren’t feeling happy about themselves. Parents aren’t feeling happy about themselves. It feels like we’re in quicksand,” he said. “Overall, I feel like we’re starting to come together. But it’s just we’ve got to find a way to lock some points down.”

The Rangers will look to get back into the win column, Tuesday, when they host the Southwest Cougars at 7:30 p.m., The Dauphin Herald is the game sponsor. 

Southwest, Carefoot said, is well coached, are patient and play with a sound structure.

“So I think if we bring our work ethic and the mindset of trying to execute the little things that help bring the team success, I think we’re going to have success,” he said, adding both goaltenders played well over the weekend. “Both goalies right now have found some confidence, which is good,” Carefoot said.

“It’s exciting. We’re in games right now and so, we just hope to everyday to get a little bit better and that’s the plan.”