{gallery}11_30_10/quake{/gallery}Referee Dustin Thompson speaks with Quake assistant captain Evan Dixon (left) while team captain Mathew Peddie listens in. Thompson was exceptionally busy on Friday night, whistling 267 minutes in infractions and ejecting eight players as Yellowstone battled league-leader Helena. Tribune photo by Randal Horobik Third period outbursts bury local side The Yellowstone Quake slid into fifth place in the NORPAC America West Division standings after being swept by Helena 7-2 and 8-3 over the weekend at Riley Arena. The losses to the defending NORPAC champs leave the Quake four points out of playoff position. “Helena is a tough team, and they're capable of scoring goals in a hurry,” said Yellowstone Quake head coach Craig Furstenau.

The visiting Big Horns showcased that scoring opportunity both Friday and Saturday night in Cody. On Friday night, the Quake trailed by just a 3-2 count going into the third period of an ejection, fight and penalty-filled contest, only to watch as the Big Horns scored three goals in a 38-second span to win pulling away.

The outburst was precipitated by a major penalty whistled against the Quake's Mitchell Pijanowski for board checking.

“We took a penalty at a bad time,” Furstenau said. “Helena capitalized on it in a hurry. They've got so many weapons.”

Friday's game was marred by an abundance of penalties. In all, the officiating crew handed out 267 penalty minutes. Four players from each team were ejected, much of it stemming from a series of brawls that broke out during the game's second period.

Alex Johansons scored in the first period for the Quake. Andrew Lord added a second-period goal as six of Helena's seven goals in Friday's game came during power play situations.

“I take responsibility for maybe not practicing us as much as we could have to prepare for the penalty kill against them,” said Furstenau, who watched the Big Horns score on 6 of 11 man-advantage situations in the game.

Saturday's contest lacked the abundance of penalties and player ejections from the previous night, but followed a similar script. After Helena jumped to a 3-0 lead in the first 20 minutes, the Quake rallied in the second period.

Mathew Peddie and Ethan Range scored 36 seconds apart to draw the Quake back to within a goal. After a Helena score midway through the second period, Peddie lit the lamp again to bring the Quake within 4-3 on the scoreboard.

The shot also woke the Helena offense from its slumber. The Big Horns scored late to end the second period with a two-goal cushion. The visitors added a power play goal in the opening minute of the third period before tacking on a pair of insurance goals later in the third-period for the five-goal win.

Yellowstone was held to just one shot on goal over the final 20 minutes as Helena maintained play in its offensive zone throughout the period. Both teams were hampered by a short bench in the game due to mandatory one-game suspensions stemming from the previous night's ejections.

“Early on, I don't think we executed a single thing that we wanted,” Furstenau said of his team's slow start. “It was pretty animated (in the locker room) during that first intermission.”

The Quake return to action this weekend. The team hosts Billings on Friday in a 7:30 p.m. contest. The team heads to Bozeman on Saturday. Both Billings and Bozeman sit four points ahead of the Quake in the NORPAC America West standings for the division's final two playoff spots.