Wheat Kings rally to beat Blazers

The Brandon Wheat Kings finished up a disappointing six-game home stand by scoring five unanswered goals in a 6-3 comeback victory over the Kamloops Blazers in Western Hockey League action at Assiniboine Credit Union Place on Thursday.

Brandon (2-5-1-0) received its goals from Luke Mistelbacher, Chase Surkan, Gio Pantelas, Joby Baumuller, Caleb Hadland and Carter Klippenstein, with JP Hurlbert, Tommy Lafreniere and Josh Evaschesen replying for Kamloops (5-5-0-0) in front of a crowd of a season-low crowd of 1,822.

“It’s very nice,” Klippenstein said. “They have a really good top two lines and are an offensive powerhouse right now so it’s good to take them off the board, and we’re moving on to Regina on Saturday now.”

The Wheat Kings head out on the road to play the Regina Pats on Saturday at 7 p.m. CDT. Kamloops was skating in its fifth game in seven days as it makes biennial trip through the East Division.

Brandon head coach and general manager Marty Murray said his team managed to overcome another early deficit, and played well after the rocky start.

“I think we were deflated giving up the first two and I think for a little bit after that, but the power-play goal got that mojo going a little bit and from there, I thought we played a pretty solid game,” Murray said. “I told the guys after the game I don’t have much hair left, so if we could stop giving up the first two every game, that would be a little easier on us.

“I was proud of the push-back tonight with five unanswered. One thing I liked was I thought we had contributions from everybody tonight. Everybody did their job for the most part, and it’s fun when everyone has a hand in winning a hockey game.”

For the eighth game in a row, the opponent scored first when Hurlbert dropped the puck to Evaschesen and raced to the back door, where Evaschesen found the WHL’s scoring leader and he fired home his 11th goal of the season past Brandon goalie Filip Ruzicka at the seven-minute, four-second mark.

The hosts fell behind 2-0 for the fourth game in a row on a grievous turnover behind their net five minutes later that resulted in a quick one-timer from the slot by Lafreniere. Asher Gingras of Steinbach drew an assist on the play for his first career WHL point, drawing a loud ovation from a group of family and friends.

“We’re used to it now,” Klippenstein said of the deficit. “We obviously don’t want to be used to it but it’s big just to stay positive and stick to our game plan. The power play did a really good job of getting us back into it so it’s battling to draw those penalties like we did and then capitalizing on the power play, which we did.”

Brandon responded with 2:12 left in the period on their first power play. Jordan Gavin got the puck in front and feathered a pass over to Mistelbacher at the side of the net, and the overage forward beat Kamloops goalie Ivans Kufterins.

Kamloops restored the two-goal lead seven minutes into the middle frame on the power play when Nathan Behm broke down the wing on the rush and passed into the middle for a quick shot by Evaschesen from the slot.

Brandon went to their own power play a minute later, and Jaxon Jacobson fed Surkan down low at the side of the net. The rookie made a move and put it over the shoulder of Kufterins: The power-play goals came 1:52 apart.

The Wheat Kings then tied the game 16:55 into the middle frame when Panetelas carried the puck into the Kamloops zone and was forced wide by three Kamloops defenders. He snapped a quick shot from the faceoff dot that clearly surprised the goaltender.

“We had six goals in this game and every goal mattered the same amount,” Pantelas said. “I didn’t see much going into my goal but took a wild shot and it went in.”

The Wheat Kings scored another power-play goal before the period ended to take their first lead. Nick Johnson carried the puck and backhanded a pass to Caleb Hadland, who put a shot on net. Kufterins made the save but the puck bounced out to Baumuller, who put it in to give the hosts a 4-3 lead.

Brandon took a two-goal lead 38 seconds into the third period on a pair of smart plays. Mistelbacher created a turnover when he out-duelled a defender for the puck and got it over to Jacobson, who didn’t receive the pass cleanly. He stayed with it and fed Hadland back in the slot for a quick shot that made it 5-3.

Both teams hit iron in the next few minutes as the game opened up, with chances at both ends. Ruzicka bailed his teammates out midway through the period when he made a nice glove save on Cooper Moore on a breakaway, and Kufterins denied Baumuller on a point-blank opportunity at the other end.

Brandon got an important insurance goal to make it 6-3 nine minutes into the period when Klippenstein came down the wing and snapped a shot through the five-hole.

“It was a great feeling,” Klippenstein said. “The first one of the year I find is always the hardest. Hopefully there are a lot more to come.”

Ruzicka made 27 saves for the Wheat Kings, with Kufterins stopping 29 shots for the Blazers.

“He played his size,” Klippenstein said of the Czech rookie Ruzicka. “He played big, he made big saves and I would say he kept us in it when we were down two. He was really big and key to our win.”

Brandon went 3-for-3 on the power play, with Kamloops scoring once in two chances.

“It’s huge,” Murray said of his man advantage. “To go 3-for-3, that’s the difference in the game.”

Kamloops head coach Shaun Clouston said his club did what it could early but some costly mistakes as the game went on were the difference.

“I thought we started on time and started well,” Clouston said. “It’s a real good team. They’re a better team than their record and they know that. We got into penalty trouble and they were hot on the power play tonight. That really changed the momentum. I thought with the lead, we got away from a few things.

“We managed the puck really well in the first period but got away from that and made a couple of softer plays and a couple of turnovers and their transition came right back at us. We have four young D and it was a lot for them to handle.”

ICINGS: Brandon skated without injured D Merrek Arpin and D Adam Hlinsky, plus healthy scratches G Hudson Perry, F Gunnar Gleasman and F Prabh Bhathal … Among the Kamloops scratches was D Rhett Ravndahl, the former Wheat King, who is out of the lineup week-to-week with a lower-body injury. He was in attendance … The Victoria Royals acquired 19-year-old goaltender Jake Pilon from the Kelowna Rockets on Thursday for a sixth-round pick in the 2029 draft … Baumuller led the Wheat Kings with six shots on net … The game took two hours, 17 minutes to play … In the faceoff circle, Brandon won 33-29.

» pbergson@brandonsun.com