By the time the puck bounced over one defender's skate and through another's legs for a breakaway and the Chilliwack Bruins' sixth goal, it was abundantly clear that Tuesday was not the Kootenay Ice's night.

Bad luck, an opportunistic opponent and frustration paved the way to Kootenay's 6-2 loss at the Cranbrook Rec Plex, their first defeat in eight games.

"It's not a great feeling, but we've got to put that behind us and move on. There's always another day," said Kootenay winger Drew Czerwonka. "Sure we had lots of mistakes (last night), but we've got to start fixing those in practice and things will get better."

The Ice dropped to 11-4-0-1, but remained atop the Western Hockey League's Eastern Conference as the Saskatoon Blades also lost Tuesday.

Chilliwack (9-5-0) got their sixth goal at 3:35 of the third after Ryan Howse settled the bouncing puck in stride, kicked it to his stick and scored on the backhand.

Goalie Nathan Lieuwen was replaced after that, having made 12 stops for only his second loss in 10 starts.

Ice assistant coach Todd Johnson said Lieuwen would probably like another crack at some of the shots that eluded him.

"Then again, you go with quite a few of the games where Nathan saved us. It's good with the bad sometimes. I don't think he'd be happy with a couple of those goals, but we gave up a few chances that we don't normally give up. We need to learn from that."

The Ice had dominated the territory battle in the first period, with their forecheck and cycle causing the Bruins fits. Unfortunately, Kootenay wasn't able to get any of their 12 shots (or the several other premium chances that didn't register) past Lucas Gore.

"I thought we had the puck to the net enough times to maybe be rewarded a few more times, but that's the game sometimes. It can come back and bite you a little bit," said Johnson.

"It will be a learning situation for us where, when things aren't going your way, you really have to focus on the defensive part of the game and I think we didn't do that."

Steve Hodges got Chilliwack on the board 18 minutes in, scoring off a rush down the left wing.

Three quick goals in the opening five minutes of the middle period put the game firmly in Chilliwack's paws.

Brandon Magee scored through a crowd at 2:11.

The Bruins extended their lead on a scramble at the end of a power play. Lieuwen made a toe save on Howse at the right post, but the puck squirted out to the crease and Roman Horak put his tenth of the campaign in.

At 4:55, a backchecking Adam Rossignol attempted to intercept a centering pass and accidentally tipped it in the net.

Kootenay tried to mix it up with Chilliwack halfway through the frame, resulting in a few roughing minors and a pair of misconducts going both ways.

The Ice got into penalty problems late in the second after Kevin King argued his way to an unsportsmanlike minor after already being dinged for a slash near the Bruins' bench.

Shortly after the first penalty expired, Brayden McNabb was sent off for high sticking. The Bruins made good on the two-man advantage, with Brandon Manning scoring from the point six seconds before the intermission.

"We're pro hockey players and we've got to battle through frustration," said Czerwonka. "Once we get through all that minor stuff, we'll be a great hockey team."

After Howse scored early in the third, Czerwonka broke the shutout eight seconds into a power play at 12:09.

Rossignol got one back for the first of his career, tipping Jagger Dirk's point shot with 8.5 seconds left to make it 6-2.

Gore finished with 32 saves while Brett Teskey - Lieuwen's replacement - stopped the four shots he faced.

Twenty-year-old Matt Fraser was hurt on a hit five minutes into the game; although he was back on the bench by the end of the period, he did not play the third for precautionary reasons. The nature of the injury wasn't disclosed.