Kraus, Wheat Kings top Royals 6-1

In a battle of two goalies who were traded for each other, Jayden Kraus and the Brandon Wheat Kings won their final home game before embarking on their swing through the U.S. Division, beating Ethan Eskit and the visiting Victoria Royals 6-1 in Western Hockey League action at Assiniboine Credit Union Place on Friday.

Brandon (24-17-1-0) received two goals from Jaxon Jacobson, and singles from Gunnar Gleasman, Joby Baumuller, Caleb Hadland, and Luke Mistelbacher, with Heath Nelson replying for Victoria (17-15-5-3) in front of a crowd of 2,763.

“I can’t even describe it,” Kraus said of the victory. “The amount of nerves you can imagine I was feeling before the game were pretty high. Also, it was basically excitement: It was one feeling mixed together with your excitement and your nerves. It was so cool to see all the guys I got really close with there for a couple of years.

“Then to come out and get the job done, it can’t be any better.”

Brandon head coach and general manager Marty Murray was happy for his netminder, who he acquired in July.

“It was probably a pretty emotional night for him playing against his former team,” Murray said. “I know he wanted this one real bad. It wasn’t an easy game for him at times, especially in the third period when we gave up some looks and were killing penalties quite a bit in the first and the third.

“I thought he did an outstanding job. I’m happy for him. He’s been pretty consistent here for a while now.”

The Wheat Kings don’t play at home again until Feb. 6, as they head out on the road on Tuesday for a game against the Lethbridge Hurricanes on Wednesday. Then they keep travelling west for their annual foray into the Western Conference — this year it’s the U.S. Division — with games against the Everett Silvertips (Jan. 23), Portland Winterhawks (Jan. 24), Seattle Thunderbirds (Jan. 27), Wenatchee Wild (Jan. 28), Tri-City Americans (Jan. 30), and Spokane Chiefs (Jan. 31).

After a 3-1 victory over the Saskatoon Blades on Wednesday, they’ll be heading out on a two-game winning streak after ending a five-game skid.

“It’s really nice,” Jacobson said. “We’ve been struggling to put pucks in the back of the net as of late and getting six and most importantly, getting the win is huge for us,” Jacobson said.

Eskit made the best save of the first half of the opening frame when he denied Nick Johnson on a backdoor shorthanded two-on-one, and Kraus was busy near the end of the game’s first power play to keep the game deadlocked.

Brandon broke through 11 minutes 36 seconds into the first period with a goal Eskit would want back. He went behind the net to the boards to collect the puck and it hopped over his stick to Mistelbacher, who backhanded a quick pass into the slot to Jacobson for a short shot into the empty net.

Brandon’s sturdy forecheck created the next goal just two minutes later when Gleasman batted in a rebound after some hard work by his linemates Prabh Bhathal and Jimmy Egan, who both drew assists.

The Wheat Kings continued to head to the penalty box, and not long after Eskit denied his former teammate Caleb Hadland on a shorthanded breakaway, Nelson put the Royals on the board when he tipped in a hard pass from Caleb Matthews for a power-play goal.

Incredibly, Brandon sent Victoria to a third power play before the period ended, but they killed it to take a 2-1 lead into the intermission.

The game turned during a five-minute stretch in the second period.

Baumuller restored the two-goal lead 4:15 into the second period with a goal he’s scored before this season. He rushed down the wing and then fired an absolute rocket over the glove of Eskit from near the faceoff dot for his team-leading 30th goal of the season.

Just 55 seconds later, Jacobson created a turnover in front of the Victoria net and set up Hadland to give the Wheat Kings a quick 4-1 lead.

At the other end, Kraus stretched to catch a hard, low shot from the blue-line to keep the Royals at bay. Jacobson scored his second of the night when he stripped Royals defenceman Henry Peterson of the puck in the neutral zone, raced in on a breakaway, and beat Eskit between the legs to make it 5-1 at the 8:24 mark.

Just 53 seconds later, Jacobson made an incredible backhanded saucer pass that landed flat for Hadland, and he sent the puck back across the crease to Mistelbacher for a tap-in. It was Brandon’s sixth goal on 17 shots, and Brandon had at least a dozen Grade A chances by that point.

“I got the pass from Mistel and saw the D wasn’t going to let me go, so I cut back, and Hads was open for a one-timer,” Jacobson said. “I actually sauced it higher than I wanted to, but it ended up on his tape and Mistel buried it.”

It was the most productive night in a while for the Jacobson-Hadland-Mistelbacher trio, which was red hot early in the season but had cooled down considerably.

“You get accustomed to them scoring two or three a night early in the year,” Murray said. “It’s a long season, and there are ebbs and flows, but it’s good to see them get back on track and lead the way offensively. That was just what the doctor ordered here tonight.”

Kraus saved his best for the third period as Victoria pressed to get back into the game, with the athletic netminder making several highlight stops.

The game ended on an ugly note. After Royals forward Nolan Stewart made an ill-advised hit on Grayson Burzynski that saw him flagged for boarding, the overage defenceman found him on the next shift with 4:08 left and took a major for cross-checking him in the face twice.

He also earned a 10-minute misconduct and game misconduct, which almost certainly cost Burzynski a suspension.

Kraus made .28 saves for the Wheat Kings, with Eskit stopping 23 shots for the Royals.

“That’s huge as a group,” Kraus said. “We went on a little skid there and that’s not the team we are. We’re way better than that. I think this is just the start of another great run. We had a great month last month where we were 11-1 and I think this is honestly just the start of another one of those months and I’m just excited to be part of it.”

Brandon went 0-for-2 on the power play, with Victoria scoring once in six chances.

Victoria head coach James Patrick liked the first eight minutes by his young squad, and then it got a little dicey.

“They’re a real good team, a real good skating team and rush team, and we just had trouble handling them,” Patrick said. “I think this will be a great lesson for our team. If they don’t know now what we are and how we have to play, then we might never learn. We just got on the wrong side of too many pucks.

“When you give a team two breakaways and two two-on-ones in the first period, it’s crazy, you’re shooting yourself in the foot. The first two goals, I thought we handed them to them.”

ICINGS: Brandon skated without injured D Merrek Arpin and F Easton Odut, F Carter Klippenstein and F Chase Surkan. None are close to a return … While forechecking, Gleasman hit both defencemen and then laid the body on a forward on his way back to the bench for a change … Brady Turko rang a shot off the crossbar late in the second period during Brandon’s first power play … On two occasions, Wheat Kings back checkers caught up to the play during Royals’ two-on-ones and denied them a shot … The game had three fights, which was a bit curious because the teams hadn’t played each other in 366 days … Jacobson, Mistelbacher, Johnson, Gleasman, Jimmy Egan and Jordan Gavin led the Wheat Kings with three shots each on net … The game took two hours, 17 minutes to play … In the faceoff circle, Victoria won 23-22.

» pbergson@brandonsun.com