Wheat Kings rally after tough loss

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This article was published 15/12/2024 (276 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Luke Shipley scored twice in the third period as the Brandon Wheat Kings beat the Saskatoon Blades 4-2 in Western Hockey League action at SaskTel Centre on Sunday.

Brandon (15-9-3-1) received its other goals from Matteo Michels and Nick Johnson, with Brandon Lisowsky scoring twice for Saskatoon (17-10-2-2) in front of a crowd of 5,274. The defeat snapped a 20-game Blades streak of not losing on home ice in regulation that started March 1 last season.

Brandon head coach and general manager Marty Murray said it was nice to rebound with a strong first period after a forgettable opening frame during a 5-3 loss to the Prince Albert Raiders on Saturday evening.

“We needed a big effort,” Murray said. “Especially in the first period last night, we didn’t come out to play so we had good first (on Sunday). It was a quick turn-around. They didn’t play last night, and I think it was their first home loss here this year.”

After a terrible start on Saturday, Brandon opened the scoring one minute 51 seconds into the game when Michels jumped on an errant Blades pass in the high slot and fired a shot over the shoulder of Saskatoon goalie Evan Gardner for his 12th goal of the season. The Wheat Kings went to their first power play midway through the period, and while it didn’t start in a very promising manner, they cashed in when the puck got caught up in skates in front of the net and Johnson was quite literally Johnny on the spot, finding the puck on the back door.

Brandon goalie Ethan Eskit made his best saves when he denied Lisowsky on a short breakaway and later in the period when Lisowsky picked off a pass in the slot and Eskit made a blocker save.

The goalie continued to play well in the second period as the hosts turned up the pressure, with Ben Riche also getting stopped on a breakaway. Saskatoon finally replied when a Brandon defenceman jumped into the play but fanned on the shot and the puck came back up the ice on a two-on-one that led to a Lisowsky one-timer into the net.

The Blades held a 13-3 edge in shots 12 minutes into the second period and 15-7 overall in the middle frame.

Early in the third period, the Wheat Kings had tremendous pressure on their second power-play of the game, with six shots and a number of good looks, but they failed to find the back of the net.

The Blades seemed to tie the game 4:04 into the third period on their second power play but a potential goal was waved off due to Hudson Kibblewhite touching the puck with a high stick. The play went to a lengthy video review to determine if the puck actually struck his arm, but was ruled to be no goal.

The power play continued, however, and the Wheat Kings made it even harder on themselves when they put an extra penalty killer on the ice, handing the hosts a 69-second, five-on-three man advantage. The Blades had a couple of glorious chances but couldn’t beat Eskit.

Brandon’s luck didn’t hold. Less than a minute after killing the second penalty, Shipley was flagged for holding and Lisowsky blasted a one-timer past Eskit five seconds later to make it 2-2.

With the teams playing four-on-four with six minutes remaining, the game turned again. The Blades won the opening faceoff but turned the puck over in the neutral zone. Shipley carried it in on a three-on-one, went down below the goal line, cut back in front and popped it into the far side of the net to restore the Wheat Kings lead at the 14:04 mark.

Saskatoon pulled Gardner in the final minute for the extra attacker, and Shipley salted the game away into the empty net with his second goal of the evening with 4.2 seconds remaining.

Eskit made 27 saves for the Wheat Kings, with Gardner stopping 26 shots for the Blades. As it turned out, both teams scored on the power play, and Brandon had a four-on-four goal and killed off a five-on-three, making special teams play vitally important in the win.

“That was a huge kill when they went five-on-three,” Murray said. “The guys did a good job of killing it off … I never like putting the game in a four-on-four situation that late, but tonight it worked out for us.”

Brandon went 1-for-2 on the power play, with Saskatoon scoring once in four chances.

“I thought we had both units,” Murray said of the power play. “The so-called second unit had two goals last night and I thought they did real good tonight. They had a couple of goal posts in the third period. I thought we had good movement and good zone time.”

ICINGS: On Sunday, Brandon skated without their three world junior players, G Carson Bjarnason, D Adam Belusko and F Dominick Petr, and were also without injured F Roger McQueen, F Ben Binder Nord, F Easton Odut and D Nigel Boehm. As a result, they called up F Raiden Zacharias from the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League’s Melville Millionaires and under-18 AAA Winnipeg Thrashers F Prabh Bhathal, and still only dressed 17 skaters … Saskatoon was without Tanner Molendyk, who also made Team Canada, and rookie forward David Lewandowski, who will suit up with Germany … Johnson led the Wheat Kings with six shots on net … The game took two hours, 27 minutes to play … In the faceoff circle, Saskatoon won 28-27 … Lisowsky’s goal extended his point streak to nine games … Saskatoon entered the afternoon on a five-game losing streak — 0-3-1-1 — its longest slide since February 2017 … Sunday’s outing was the final game of the first half for the Blades. Brandon finishes up when the Moose Jaw Warriors visit Westoba Place on Tuesday at 7 p.m.

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