Coulter’s OT goal tips Hitmen

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 25/04/2015 (3787 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Add Tyler Coulter to Brandon’s list of overtime heroes.

Coulter tipped in Ryan Pilon’s high point shot 51 seconds into overtime to give the Brandon Wheat Kings a 3-2 win over the Calgary Hitmen on Saturday at Westman Place. While the goal might turn into a perfectly executed tip-in when Coulter tells the story years down the road, on Saturday night the 18-year-old Brandonite was bashfully honest, admitting he "didn’t really see too much of it."

"(The puck) actually hit the shaft of my stick going in. I thought it was coming for my face, so I put (the stick) up to guard it and it just hit me and went in."

No matter what Coulter’s intentions were, the results were effective, running Brandon’s overtime record to 4-0 in this year’s Western Hockey League playoffs and giving the Wheat Kings a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference final as the best-of-seven series shifts to Calgary for Game 3 on Tuesday.

While Saturday’s contest was much closer than Brandon’s series-opening 9-4 win on Friday, Wheat Kings head coach and general manager Kelly McCrimmon felt it was a better-played game.

"I thought both teams were better today," said McCrimmon, whose 62nd career playoff coaching victory moved him into sole possession of ninth place on the WHL’s all-time list. "There was a lot of rust I thought yesterday in our game and also just the game in general. And today was a lot more what you expect in terms of being close, tight-checking, low-scoring."

The Wheat Kings got off to a quick start in Game 2. Just like he did on Friday, Jayce Hawryluk opened the scoring, positioning himself left of the net and redirecting Pilon’s feed past Calgary netminder Brendan Burke. Brandon made the score 2-0 on a 5-on-3 power play. After just missing on a series of glorious chances, the Wheat Kings were finally able to break through as Peter Quenneville deposited a cross-crease pass from Morgan Klimchuk.

Burke was Calgary’s starter on Saturay after replacing Mack Shields in Game 1 and, although he was victimized for two early goals, he also came up with some big saves, giving the Hitmen the chance to get back within a goal before the first intermission. After some extended Hitmen pressure, Adam Tambellini got the puck with plenty of room to work with in the right side of the slot and fired a shot to the top corner.

While the first period was similar to Game 1, the rest of the evening played out completely different. The Wheat Kings held their 2-1 lead until the 6:51 mark of the third period when defenceman Michael Zipp wristed a shot through traffic for his first career WHL playoff goal.

Brandon outshot Calgary 16-6 in the third, putting the Wheat Kings over the 40-shot mark for the sixth straight game, but Burke held strong on his way to a 43-save night.

"Burky was awesome in net tonight," Zipp said. "He stopped a lot of shots and kept a lot of pucks out."

Burke was under siege right away in overtime, though, as Brandon quickly drove into the Calgary end, with the Hitmen netminder stopping McGauley before Hawryluk hit the side of the net on the rebound. The Wheat Kings maintained possession in the offensive zone and were rewarded with the ultimate payoff in Coulter’s winner.

"I think we’re very confident in close games," said Hawryluk, whose team has played seven 3-2 games in the playoffs, winning six of them. "Whether we’re down a goal or we’re up a goal or we’re tied, I think we’re very confident and very comfortable."

ONE-TIMERS: The Hitmen have played seven OT games, going 4-3 … Wheat Kings G Jordan Papirny made 22 saves … Hawryluk (seven goals, five assists) is on an eight-game point-scoring streak … Brandon was 1-for-2 on the power play, while Calgary was 0-for-1 … Wheat Kings LW Tanner Kaspick and D Kale Clague, who were hurt in the opener, both missed game 2, with RW Stelio Mattheos and LW Mark Matsuba taking their place. Brandon’s other scratches were C/RW Reid Duke, LW Quintin Lisoway, LW Ty Lewis, D Mark Taraschuk and G Logan Thompson … Calgary scratches included LW Jake Virtanen, who has been suspended for a length of time to be determined for the hit that injured Kaspick. RW Chase Lang, who was hurt in Game 1, and LW Connor Rankin were also out … Calgary coach Mark French was fined $1,000 by the WHL for his stick-throwing outburst and ejection in Game 1 … The crowd was 5,004 for a total of more than 10,000 in the first two games of the series … Among those in attendance were former Wheat Kings Ryan Craig, Tyler Plante and Kevin Cheveldayoff, the general manager of the NHL’s Winnipeg Jets.

» rhenders@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @HendoRob