Wheat Kings rally to beat Hurricanes

Luke Mistelbacher scored twice in the third period as the Brandon Wheat Kings rallied to beat the Lethbridge Hurricanes 5-4 in Western Hockey League action at VisitLethbridge.com Arena on Wednesday.

Brandon (25-17-1-0) received its other goals from Joby Baumuller, Cameron Allard and Nick Johnson, with Owen Berge, Kai Anderson, Will Scott and Cohen Pentney replying for Lethbridge (12-33-0-1) in front of a crowd of 3,016.

Brandon head coach and general manager Marty Murray said it wasn’t beautiful but his club escaped with two points as it won its third game in a row.

“It wasn’t a very good first 40 minutes,” Murray said. “I thought we were a bit better in the third period but we didn’t generate a ton, that’s for sure. We were kind of on our heels, but credit to Lethbridge, they played hard and they play heavy. They’re physical and it seemed like we were second to pucks a lot and not winning a lot of puck battles in the first 40 minutes.

“I thought we played a little more of our game in the third period but I still think we have better.

“We’ll take it. You can’t leave this game better than 1-0 and we are. We’ll put it in the bank, turn the page and get ready to head down south.”

The Hurricanes, who are in full rebuild mode and sit 22nd in the 23-team league, were aggressive in the early going, with Brandon goalie Filip Ruzicka forced to make a terrific glove save on a shot from the slot seven minutes 35 seconds into the opening frame.

Brandon’s early problems intensified with some penalty trouble.

The Wheat Kings sent the Hurricanes to an 89-second five-on-three man advantage midway through the first period, and just 15 seconds in Berge beat Ruzicka through a screen.

Then, exactly one minute later, Anderson blasted a one-timer into the net as the hosts converted on both power plays to take a 2-0 lead.

Brandon showed signs of life 87 seconds later when the puck was sent at the Lethbridge net by Jaxon Jacobson, and while Lethbridge goalie Koen Cleaver frantically looked for it in a scramble, Baumuller reached out front from behind the net and tapped the puck in.

The Wheat Kings tied the game 6:10 into the second period when Allard got the puck at the point, and when no Hurricanes came over to challenge him, the rookie defenceman skated to nearly the bottom of the circle and fired a shot just inside the far post for his third goal of the season.

Then, with just over four minutes left in the middle frame, Brandon failed to clear the zone despite multiple opportunities and Scott threw the puck at the net to Gavin Lesiuk but Johnson mistakenly knocked it into his own net as he tried to intercept the pass.

On the next shift, Brandon defenceman Daniil Skvortsov ran heavily into his own net and left the ice hunched over. He didn’t return: There was no early word on his status.

Fortunately for the Wheat Kings, they dressed seven blue-liners and 11 forwards as Ethan Young of Regina made his WHL debut.

“If he didn’t have a cage on, you would have thought he was a pretty polished, well-seasoned veteran out there,” Murray said of Young. “I thought he was excellent on both ends of the rink, particularly with the puck and making puck decisions and puck plays. Offensively, he created some offence off the blue-line.

“I thought he was excellent and just got better and better as the game wore on.”

The team had planned to call up Young for one game, but with the Skvortsov injury and overage defenceman Grayson Burzynski still having to serve two more games of his three-game suspension, he will likely remain with the club for the entire trip.

Brandon entered the game with a dismal 3-9-0-0 record when trailing after 40 minutes, but on Wednesday they flipped the script.

The Wheat Kings finally got their first power-play opportunity early in the third period and Johnson was able to bat in the rebound on a shot by Brady Turko as the second unit tied the game 3-3.

Brandon took its first lead with 6:54 remaining when Young made a good play in the neutral zone to send Mistelbacher in on a breakaway, and the overage sniper fired a shot over Cleaver’s glove.

Lethbridge pulled their goalie for the extra attacker with 1:37 remaining, and Mistelbacher scored his second of the game into the empty net with 50.3 seconds remaining.

The scoring wasn’t done, however, with Hurricanes callup forward Pentney sniping his first WHL goal from the slot with 31.1 seconds left.

Ruzicka made 25 saves for the Wheat Kings, with Cleaver stopping 21 shots for the Hurricanes.

Brandon went 1-for-2 on the power play, with Lethbridge scoring once in three chances

The Wheat Kings begin their tour of the U.S. Division when they meet the Everett Silvertips on Friday, with games against the Portland Winterhawks (Saturday), Seattle Thunderbirds (Tuesday, Jan. 27), Wenatchee Wild (Wednesday, Jan. 28), Tri-City Americans (Friday, Jan. 30) and Spokane Chiefs (Saturday, Jan. 31) also on the docket.

Callup forwards Levi Ellingsen and Carson Ralph have joined the team for the trip but were healthy scratches, while the Wheat Kings skated without four injured veterans, defenceman Merrek Arpin, and forwards Easton Odut, Carter Klippenstein and Chase Surkan.

“No disrespect to Lethbridge, they play hard, but when you go to those American markets, it’s a different animal,” Murray said of what lies ahead. “The fans are energetic and they all play well at home. If we start on our heels, we’re going to be chasing it the entire trip. We got away with one tonight. I think the guys would agree with me, we have to be a lot better.

“It will be a task and obviously we’re a little shorthanded right now. We’ll have some new guys in the lineup here in the next few games and from what we saw tonight from our guys getting inserted as affiliates, they made an impact on the game.

“Hopefully those guys can come in and do the same.”

ICINGS: Jordan Gavin dressed in his 250th WHL game and had an assist … Jacobson had two assists … Allard and Mistelbacher led the Wheat Kings with four shots each on net … The game took two hours, 23 minutes to play … In the faceoff circle, Brandon won 29-22.

» pbergson@brandonsun.com