Strong third powers Wheat Kings to 8-4 win over Oil Kings

Luke Mistelbacher scored twice as the Brandon Wheat Kings rode a terrific third period to their sixth win a row with an 8-4 victory over the visiting Edmonton Oil Kings in Western Hockey League action at Assiniboine Credit Union Place on Saturday.

Brandon (34-22-1-0) received its other goals from Giorgos Pantelas, Cameron Allard, Prabh Bhathal, Brady Turko, Nick Johnson and Jaxon Jacobson, with Miroslav Holinka, Landon Hanson, Carter Sotheran and Josh Lee replying for Edmonton (36-15-3-2) in front of a crowd of 3,588.

One night after Filip Ruzicka stopped 47 shots in a 4-0 victory over the Penticton Vees, Jayden Kraus was outstanding in stopping 35 shots, with 29 in just the first two periods.

“Kraus was making some great saves,” Mistelbacher said. “We got outshot obviously and he just kept us in it. That probably gave us some energy and we played for him.”

In the Eastern Conference playoff race, the fifth-place Wheat Kings are one point behind the Calgary Hitmen, who have three games in hand, and five points ahead of the sixth-place Saskatoon Blades, who have played one more game than Brandon.

Brandon head coach and general manager Marty Murray said his club got better as the night went on, and was the grateful recipient of some luck.

“For the first two periods, we kind of hung on for dear life,” Murray said. “I thought Kraus made some big saves to keep us in it. We got a bounce on the one of the (Zamboni) door: Sometimes things just go your way, and that was one of those cases. I thought in the third period we played some really good hockey and executed some really good plays and really gutted out a good victory.”

The action was fast and furious, with Edmonton opening the scoring on the game’s first power play. Off a draw, defenceman Ethan McKenzie beat Kraus with a shot that hit the post behind him and bounced straight out into the slot, where Holinka fired it home four minutes 14 seconds into the game.

On the next shift, Mistelbacher outduelled a pair of Edmonton defenders for the puck at the Oil Kings blue-line and got it over to Jacobson, who sent it back to the point for a Pantelas shot that snuck between the post and the pad of Edmonton goalie Parker Snell to tie the game.

“I didn’t see much, I just figured get it on goal and get pucks going,” Pantelas said. “It was that time of the game when getting it on net is really the best we can do and I was lucky I found the back of it.”

Just over four minutes later, Edmonton restored the lead when a Jaxon Fuder shot was blocked — it actually snapped the stick of Gunnar Gleasman — but Hansen gathered up the loose puck and fired a shot over the blocker of Kraus.

Before the period ended, Brandon went to its first power play and Allard’s shot from the faceoff dot squeaked through Snell’s legs to tie it 2-2.

Kraus, who made 16 saves in the first period, had to be sharp early in the second when Hanson was sent in on a breakaway at the 1:15 mark, with the goaltender making a fine pad save on the deke.

Brandon took its first lead on a weird one 6:30 into the middle frame. Snell was standing behind the net to stop the puck on a dump-in. Instead, the puck took a funny bounce off the boards to the front of the net and Bhathal put it into the empty net between the sliding MacKenzie and Snell.

Edmonton had a glorious opportunity at the 11:51 mark of the middle frame when they went to a five-on-three man advantage for two full minutes, and the Sanford product Sotheran evened the score 90 seconds in with a shot through traffic.

But Brandon regained the lead with a power-play goal of their own with 56.8 seconds left in the middle frame when Mistelbacher came in on a three-on-one, waited for the defenceman to drop down, skated into the middle and wired a shot over Snell’s blocker.

“In the pre-scout, we knew their D like to slide so it was a three-on-one and he went down,” Mistelbacher said. “I cut middle and I had a guy on the backdoor low glove and (Snell) was probably cheating that a bit so I went to the other side.”

Pantelas said his team was aware the Oil Kings lost 5-2 to the Regina Pats on Friday and understood they needed to play them hard. But they certainly saved the best for last.

“We started a little slow, definitely,” Pantelas said. “We got outshot by quite a bit but I didn’t think we got out-chanced a crazy amount. We were still in it, still fighting, still playing but once the third period hit, we just started exploding and everything started clicking.”

The game turned on a span of 6:21 to start the final frame.

Jordan Gavin set up Turko in the slot for his 15th goal of the season 35 seconds in, and then Johnson jumping on a rebound two minutes later.

After Ethan Simcoe took over from Snell in net, Mistelbacher beat him with a deke off the rush, and following a frustration penalty by Edmonton that sent Brandon back to the power play, they moved the puck around and Jacobson had a backdoor open net for his 21st goal. Suddenly the game was 8-3 and Brandon was in complete control.

“Turko was the first goal in the third period and that was a big one to get up 5-3,” Murray said. “We scored right after that: The game is so much about momentum and to get those two quick ones at the start of the third to give ourselves a big cushion, you could see guys got some energy and we had a pretty solid third period.”

Jacobson agreed.

“How we came out in the third was really crucial,” Jacobson said. “It shows our character as a team. The first couple of periods were tough, we were killing and a little beat down from yesterday’s tough game and it showed. In the third, we came out and gave them everything we had. Seeing the goals go in was awesome.”

The Oil Kings popped in the final goal of the night with 3:02 left when Lee’s shot through traffic found its way past Kraus.

Brandon went 3-for-8 on the power play, with Edmonton scoring twice in six chances. Snell and Simcoe combined to stop 18 shots for the Oil Kings.

Edmonton head coach Jason Smith said his club played well for 40 minutes but couldn’t quite bring it home.

“For two periods, I really liked the way we played,” Smith said. “We obviously gave that goal up right at the end of the second period and a goal on the first shift of the third and the game was kind of sideways after that. For two periods, it was solid and the third was a write-off.”

The Wheat Kings once again were substantially short-staffed, with 16-year-old callup forward Carson Park playing his fourth game as the team remained without forwards Carter Klippenstein, Easton Odut, Joby Baumuller, Caleb Hadland and Chase Surkan, plus defencemen Merrek Arpin and Dylan Ronald.

Even so, they’ve beaten four teams in the top 10 of the league during their six-game heater.

“They’ve played extremely hard and their backs have been up against the wall,” Murray said. “I can’t remember the last time we had 12 forwards. It’s six in a row but if you look at the teams we beat too, (Prince Albert), Saskatoon in a real important game standings-wise, Penticton last night, Edmonton tonight, our guys should be happy and proud of themselves because we are as a staff as well.”

ICINGS: Gavin notched his 150th career assist … Mistelbacher led the Wheat Kings with five shots on net … The game took two hours, 24 minutes to play … In the faceoff circle, Brandon won 30-25 … The Wheat Kings next see action when Carson Carels of Cypress River and the Prince George Cougars visit on Tuesday.

» pbergson@brandonsun.com