Papirny shuts door on Tigers

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This article was published 15/11/2014 (4273 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Brandon Wheat Kings and Medicine Hat Tigers combined for 82 shots on goal and 16 shootout attempts on Saturday night, with only five pucks reaching the back of the net.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, that is a goaltending duel.

Wheat King Jordan Papirny was the most prolific puckstopper at Westman Place on this occasion, matching Tiger netminder Marek Langhamer save-for-save and then some. Papirny stopped 42 shots in regulation and overtime, then denied all eight Medicine Hat shootout attempts as the Wheat Kings won 3-2 and moved five points ahead of the second-place Tigers in the Western Hockey League’s Eastern Conference. Langhamer stopped 36 shots and wasn’t beaten in the shootout until Braylon Shmyr scored on Brandon’s eighth attempt.

"It was a well-played game by both teams," Wheat Kings head coach/general manager Kelly McCrimmon said. "… The goaltenders were strong at both ends of the rink tonight. We had a lot of good chances where we didn’t score. They had chances. It was two good teams."

Colton Waltz and Reid Duke scored for the Wheat Kings (17-4-1-0), who twice rallied from one goal down, including Duke’s goal 9:07 into the third period that forced overtime.

Steven Owre and Blake Penner scored for the Tigers (14-4-1-1).

The Wheat Kings’ normally potent power play went 0-for-4, failing to score on a pair of two-man advantages, but Brandon’s penalty killers were perfect for the first time in four games, killing off all five Medicine Hat chances, including back-to-back minors in the final 10 minutes.

"Our penalty kill was huge," Duke said. "I think that was a difference maker. There were a lot of calls, so it was big on our PK guys to battle through."

Both goalies were brilliant in the shootout, turning aside shot after shot until Shmyr, who is now 3-for-4 in shootouts for his career, deked Langhamer and beat him through the five-hole. Papirny said he enjoyed the back-and-forth battle.

"It was awesome," said Papirny, who has won his last six starts, including back-to-back shootouts and a shutout of the Tigers two weeks ago. "Me and Langhamer went back and forth there. Shootouts are something you do at practice just at the end for fun, and I think I have pretty good control of my poise and I think that helped me."

ONE-TIMERS: Attendance was 3,497 … It was the Wheat Kings’ longest shootout since the beat the Saskatoon Blades 3-2 in a 12-rounder on Jan. 19, 2013 … All three Quenneville brothers, Brandon C John and RW Peter and Medicine Hat D David, took part in Saturday’s shootout … Peter Quenneville had his five-game point-scoring streak snapped … The Wheat Kings scratched D Kale Clague (upper body), LW Ty Lewis (arm), LW Tanner Kaspick and D Mark Matsuba … Tiger scratches included C Markus Eisenschmid (lower body) and C Anthony Ast (wrist) … The Wheat Kings auctioned and raffled off the military-themed jerseys they wore Saturday night, raising almost $16,000 for military families … The Everett Silvertips beat the Kamloops Blazers 3-2 on Saturday in a 15-round shootout that produced only three goals, including none in the first 24 attempts.

» rhenders@brandonsun.com