Winnipeg Blue Bombers quarterback Matt Nichols fires a pass as they face the Montreal Alouettes on Aug. 24, 2017.Paul Chiasson/The Canadian Press
Justin Medlock kicked his fourth field of the game in overtime as the Winnipeg Blue Bombers defeated the Montreal Alouettes 34-31 to extend their wining streak to five games on Thursday night.
Montreal slotback Nik Lewis caught 10 passes to set a CFL record with 1,031 career receptions, two more than B.C. Lions great Geroy Simon.
Regulation time ended at 23-23. Both teams got touchdowns and two-point conversions on their first possession in OT, but Darian Durant was picked off by Chris Randle on the Alouettes' second try. That left an easy 38-yard boot for Medlock for the win.
The Alouettes erased a 10-point Winnipeg lead in the final 5:07 of regulation time, with Boris Bede tying the game with a 48-yard field goal with nine seconds left on the clock. The final play saw the teams punt the ball back and forth as the Bombers tried to avoid giving up a single on the kickoff. The ball was kicked five times before it was run out of bounds.
Matt Nichols threw touchdown passes to Clarence Denmark and Julian Feoli-Gudino for the Bombers (7-2), whose winning run started with a wild 41-40 win over the Alouettes in Winnipeg on July 27.
George Johnson and Ernest Jackson caught touchdown passes and Bede booted three field goals for Montreal (3-6), which was coming off a 38-6 loss in Toronto last week.
The Bombers jumped on Montreal mistakes early for a 10-0 first quarter lead only to give it back in the second.
Winnipeg's opening drive led to a Medlock 47-yard field goal.
A Randle interception gave Winnipeg the ball on the Montreal 54. Six plays later, Nichols found Denmark alone at the back of the end zone at 9:24.
A long Montreal drive produced Bede's 19-yard boot 3:34 into the second quarter.
Montreal survived a scare when Brandon Rutley recovered a Jackson fumble to retain possession and Durant finished the drive with a 31-yard pass-and-run TD to Johnson with 12 seconds left in the half.
The Alouettes tried a trick play on third and three on the opening possession of the second half but the direct snap to Nicolas Boulay was stopped at the Montreal 51. On the next play, Nichols hit Darvin Adams with a 44-yard pass to set up a four-yard TD toss to Feoli-Gudino at 5:30.
Montreal answered with a drive aided by two pass interference calls that was capped by Bede's 19-yard field goal at 8:50, but the Bombers marched back to the Montreal six, only to be stopped. Medlock settled for an 11-yard boot two minutes into the fourth quarter, then added another from 47 yards at 9:53.
The Alouettes closed the gap when Jackson won a battle for the ball on the goal line with Brandon Alexander for a 38-yard TD catch with 3:23 left to play.
The Alouettes put linebacker Dominique Tovell on the six-game injured list with a concussion.