Winnipeg, MB) - Kolby Thornton stopped 46 of 50 shots on goal in the Manitoba Bisons' 4-1 loss against the Mount Royal Cougars on Saturday afternoon.

The Cougars got things started early in the first period as Thornton went to play the puck behind the net and rim it around the boards and out of the Bison's defensive zone. Thornton shot the puck into Cougars forward Spencer Moe who quickly recovered the puck and passed it to Dawson Milliken who buried the puck into the empty net.

The Cougars served up nine unanswered shots in the first period and locked Manitoba in their own zone for a good portion of the period.

A two-on-one break for the Bisons in the dying seconds of the first period wasn't enough for the Herd to find the equalizer, but enough to give them something to build upon going forward.

Manitoba's second power play chance of the game didn't last very long as they made quick work, scoring nine seconds into the call to even the game. A one-time pass from Parker Malchuk to Jonny Hooker gave Manitoba the equalizer on a must-score power play.

Skyler Bruce, who was credited with a secondary assist on Hooker's goal, found Michael King skating up the left-wing without a defender covering him, but King barely hit the post in a nifty backhand that tricked Cougars goaltender Riley Sims.

The Cougars scored their second goal of the game on the power play as Clay Hanus passed the puck from the high point of the left wing to Justin Lies who was floating at the bottom of the circle. Lies rifled the shot bar down which gave the Cougars the go-ahead goal on the power play.

Connor Bouchard would break loose in the Cougars' second power play of the second period in an attempt to score an insurance marker, but Thornton snuck his right leg out just enough to keep the game at 2-1.

With less than six minutes in regulation, Remy Aquilon scored the insurance marker after he found himself at the point with a lot of traffic creating the screen on Thornton. Mount Royal continued to pile on the shots and tally on extra insurance as Spencer Moe tallied his second point of the game to beat Thornton's high glove side on a clean wrist shot.

Manitoba fell to 2-6-1 while the Cougars improved to 9-3-0 in the weekend series.

The Bisons are back in action next weekend as they face the Calgary Dinos on the road for a two-game set.