Wheat Kings blow lead, fall 9-7

The defensively challenged Brandon Wheat Kings were in a generous mood on Saturday, blowing a three-goal lead in the third period and falling 9-7 to the Moose Jaw Warriors in Western Hockey League action at Temple Gardens Centre.

Landen McFadden scored twice and Riley Thorpe, Nolan Paquette, Ethan Semeniuk, Casey Brown, Pavel McKenzie, Colt Carter and Owen Berge added singles for Moose Jaw (2-0-0-0). Brandon (0-2-0-0) received its goals from Jordan Gavin, Caleb Hadland, Easton Odut, Joby Baumuller, Luke Mistelbacher, Grayson Burzynski and Nick Johnson in front of a crowd of 3,203.

The Wheat Kings lost 6-4 on Friday at home, which means they’ve allowed 15 goals in two games to start the season.

The game started fairly normally in the first period, with the teams scoring once each and combining for just 14 shots.

Moose Jaw took an early lead two minutes 37 seconds into the first period when McFadden beat a Brandon defender wide, cut hard back to the net and beat goalie Jayden Kraus with the first shot of the game.

The Wheat Kings tied the game with 48 seconds left in the period when Jaxon Jacobson carried the puck in and waited for a trailer, with his pass finding Gavin and the winger blasting a shot over the shoulder of Moose Jaw goalie Kyle Jones, an 18-year-old American making his WHL debut.

Hadland gave Brandon its first lead 53 seconds into the second period off the rush when he ripped a shot just inside the far post over the blocker of Jones.

Two minutes later, Kraus stopped a breakaway at one end and the puck came back up the ice, with Chase Surkan passing to Gio Pantelas and the second-year defenceman finding Odut in front, with the Dauphin product lifting the puck into the top of the net on the backhand.

After failing to connect on two power plays, Thorpe got the Warriors back within a goal at the 12:44 mark when he picked up the puck in his own zone and beat a Brandon defenceman to the net, where he lifted the puck into the top of the net.

The Warriors forward Semeniuk thought he tied the game when he got a pass in front and put a shot through the legs of Kraus. Semeniuk celebrated as Kraus spun with the puck under his pad, and the play went to a video replay, where it was no ruled there was no conclusive evidence the puck went in.

Moose Jaw made it official less than a minute later when Paquette put a shot on net that Kraus may have kept out again. This time it was signalled to be a goal on the ice and counted without a replay, and the game was tied.

It didn’t last. Brandon took the puck into the Moose Jaw zone off the draw, and after they prevented the Warriors from breaking out, Baumuller rifled a high shot past Jones. They restored the two-goal with 2.9 seconds left in the middle frame on their first power play when Mistelbacher fired a shot through traffic.

The wild offensive exchange hit a new level in the third period. Just 36 seconds in, a pass by Baumuller from behind the net missed its target but went out high to Burzynski, who ripped a shot past Matthew Hutchinson, who had taken over in net. On the next shift, the puck popped out to Semeniuk and he scored, and four minutes later, McFadden scored from the low slot to make it a 6-5 game.

They tied it when Brown was left all alone in the slot and at the 10:56 mark, the Warriors took their first lead when McKenzie sniped.

The comeback effort dimmed considerably when Jacobson was flagged for a 10-minute misconduct for a mouthguard violation, the third Wheat Kings player to be flagged during the game.

The Warriors seemed to put the game away off the rush when Carter snapped a shot past Kraus to make it 8-6, but Brandon wasn’t done. They went to the power play with less than three minutes left and pulled Kraus for an extra attacker, and with 2:41 left, Johnson banged home a rebound. Moose Jaw disputed it went in — the call on the ice by referee Alex Clarke was a goal — so the video replay had to have conclusive evidence it wasn’t in, and it ultimately counted.

When Brandon forward Jimmy Egan took a hooking call with two minutes left, the Warriors scored on the ensuing power play with 59 seconds remaining to make it 9-7.

Kraus made 26 saves for the Wheat Kings, with Jones and Hutchinson stopping 27 shots for the Warriors.

Brandon went 2-for-2 on the power play, with Moose Jaw scoring once in three chances.

ICINGS: Brandon skated without injured D Merrek Arpin, plus healthy scratches F Ben Binder Nord and D Adam Hlinsky, and pro campers Carter Klippenstein and Brady Turko … Defenceman Cam Allard made his season debut … Brandon had its first fight of the season with Brandon’s Gunnar Gleasman squaring off with Moose Jaw defenceman Brady Ness. No punches were landed, and Gleasman was able to throw Ness down with some ease, which is no surprise considering his father Jason was a world champion American Greco-Roman wrestler … Mistelbacher led the Wheat Kings with seven shots on net … The game took a lengthy two hours, 33 minutes to play, which is no surprise with 16 goals … In the faceoff circle, Brandon won 39-29 … The Wheat Kings have a week to marinate in their miserable opening weekend, with the Prince Albert Raiders visiting Assiniboine Credit Union Place on Saturday at 6 p.m.

» pbergson@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @PerryBergson