WINNIPEG – The Regina Cougars (7-13-3) fought back from three goals down to top the Manitoba Bisons (9-12-2) 5-4 in a shootout on Friday night at Wayne Fleming Arena. The win keeps the Cougars in the hunt for the sixth and final playoff spot as they look to keep pace with a Bisons team that came in with the fourth spot — five points ahead.

Cougars goalie Brandon Holtby bounced back from an ugly first period, stopping 34 shots overall and was rock solid in the shoot-out, not allowing a single goal.

Three goals in the final 1:46 of the first period opened a relatively even game wide open for the Bisons.

Manitoba's first goal came shortly after a penalty kill. Forward Lucas Skrumeda found captain Adam Henry with a tremendous cross-ice pass in transition and he made no mistake, going low blocker for his team-leading 17th point.

Less than a minute later, alternate captain Jonah Wasylak stole a puck in the Cougars zone and found forward Josh Tripp, who finished things off with a top shelf shot. Tripp moved up in the lineup due to a few other players being out.

Less than 30 seconds later, Tripp would add his second, as Holtby was unable to snag the puck in his glove on a Dylan Thiessen shot, proving a wide open rebound in front.

Regina's best chance to score came with four minutes left, as Scott Mickoski deked out two Bisons from in close, but was unable to flip the puck past Manitoba goalie Tyler Brown.

The Cougars completely shifted the momentum of the game in the second, recording three goals of their own to tie the contest entering the final 20 minutes.

Regina recorded their first goal short-handed, as Tanner Nagel found Tate Coughlin on an odd-man rush and later was able to tap the puck past Brown.

The visitors made it a one-score contest just over two minutes later, as Conner Chaulk won a battle on the end boards and fed the puck in front to Bryce Platt who tapped it in.

Regina evened things up with 1:34 left after a flurry of chances in front of Brown. Arthur Miller eventually got his stick on the puck and put it in.

Manitoba had a number of opportunities to score in the middle frame, led by the line of Devon Skoleski, Jeremey Leipsic, and Colton Veloso, however Holtby stood his ground after a rocky opening 20.

Special teams was the story of the third period.

Manitoba took the early momentum with a goal at 6:06 — four seconds after a Regina penalty had ended. The Cougars were unable to clear the puck and Skoleski capitalized on an open net.

Regina would even things up again however, sending the contest to overtime on a goal four seconds into their own man advantage. Tyler King got a shot off from the blue line and Tristan Frei was all to deflect it past Brown.

Each side had a glorious chance to score the game-winner in the final eight minutes, including a two-on-zero for the Cougars, however Brown kept the game level.

Neither team was able to close things out in the first overtime. Manitoba had the best chance on a two-on-one, however forward Keaton Jameson couldn't finish off a pass from Tripp.

The game remained tied after three-on-three overtime as well, sending the contest to a shootout. Manitoba had a power play with 19 seconds left, however the Cougars did an excellent job blocking the Bisons' lanes to the net.

The first four players on both sides were stopped in the shootout, with neither goalie needing to move too much in their crease. Henry had a chance to win it as the fifth Bison, however he was stymied glove hand by Holtby. Chaulk then ended it with a wrist shot.

"We went to a shootout with them in the pre-season here as well. I kind of thought they would go five-hole more," Holtby said postgame.

"They were going glove a lot, and I'm assuming that's because of that goal in the first period that went in. Hey, I'll give it to them."

Both sides will be back at it tomorrow afternoon at 2 p.m.