Pantelas, Turko lead Wheat Kings in rout

Gio Pantelas and Brady Turko both scored twice as the Brandon Wheat Kings routed the Tri-City Americans 7-1 in Western Hockey League action at Toyota Center on Friday.

Brandon (28-19-1-0) received its other goals from Prabh Bhathal, Joby Baumuller and Jordan Gavin, with David Krcal replying for Tri-City (24-18-3-1) in front of a crowd of 4,249.

Brandon head coach and general manager Marty Murray said his team’s ability score in bunches made all the difference.

“I thought in the first few shifts we did a good job of getting the puck low and grinding it out and making them defend,” Murray said. “From there, it kind of opened up some opportunities for us to get three goals in the first 10 minutes. We knew they were going to come back with a push to start the second and to do the same thing and get a few in a bundle was huge for us.

“It kind of closed the game out.”

The teams were going back and forth at a furious pace to start the first period when Bhathal came in on a two-on-one and sent a bullet past goalie Xavier Wendt five minutes 11 seconds into the game.

Two minutes later, Wendt was unable to smother the puck during a wild scramble off a short shot by Nick Johnson and Baumuller found it for his league-leading 36th goal of the season.

The Wheat Kings went to their first power play 47 seconds after that, and made it 3-0 from an unlikely source when Pantelas sent a shot up the middle and past a screen by Jimmy Egan. It was Brandon’s seventh shot, with the three goals coming in 2:59.

Brandon widened the lead again 58 seconds into the second period when Wendt made a terrific save on Gavin, but the former Americans forward found the puck and snuck a bad-angle shot into the net.

Just 66 seconds later, Bhathal stripped the puck off an American and fed Turko to make it 5-0. That was all for Wendt, who allowed five goals on 13 shots and was spelled by backup Ryan Grout.

It took just 81 seconds for Pantelas to beat Grout and the visitors led 6-0, with the three goals coming in a span of 2:27.

The game took an ugly turn on the next shift when Americans forward Cash Koch instigated a fight with Brandon defenceman Max Lavoie. As the two traded punches, a linesman stumbled beside them: Koch then fell over the fallen linesman, landed on his head and had to be helped to the dressing room. He didn’t return.

Brandon’s third line came through again 13:54 into the middle frame when Egan and Bhathal did some hard work down low and Egan found Turko in the slot.

The Bhathal-Turko-Egan line ended up combining for eight points and was easily Brandon’s most impactful unit.

“I thought they were excellent,” Murray said. “They did a lot of really good things. I think they could have even had more than they had. They moved the puck really well and the goals they scored had some real nice execution.

“I’m happy for those guys. They have the ability to do it, and I thought they were our best line tonight.”

Brandon goalie Jayden Kraus made his best save early in the third period when he denied Crew Martinson with his pad when the forward was left all alone.

The Americans finally beat Kraus with 12:11 left in the third period when Krcal was also left all alone and beat the goaltender between his legs with a nifty deke.

Kraus made 25 saves for the Wheat Kings, with Wendt and Grout combining to stop 25 shots for the Americans.

Brandon went 1-for-4 on the power play, with Tri-City unsuccessful in four chances.

The game marked a return to his hometown for 15-year-old Brandon callup forward Levi Ellingsen, who had a large contingent of fans on hand to see his fourth WHL game but first in Kennewick.

“I thought he was real good,” Murray said. “He’s been real good for a 15-year-old in every game. He’s around it, he plays fearless, he doesn’t shy away from anything. He had a lot of good looks, and for a 15-year-old coming in to play in front of his family and his friends in his hometown, it was probably a pretty special moment for the entire family.”

ICINGS: Brandon skated without injured D Merrek Arpin, D Dylan Ronald, F Carter Klippenstein, F Chase Surkan and F Easton Odut, plus healthy scratches F Carson Ralph and D Ethan Young … As expected, a goal mistakenly credited to Gavin in Wednesday’s victory over the Wenatchee Wild was changed back to Luke Mistelbacher. He now has 30 on the season but had a three-game scoring streak snapped on Friday … Bhathal, Egan and Johnson each had two assists … Bhathal led the Wheat Kings with five shots on net … The game took two hours, 20 minutes to play after starting at 9:09 p.m. CST … The victory was Brandon’s most dominant in Kennewick since the Wheat Kings earned a 10-2 victory on Oct. 22, 2019 … In the faceoff circle, Tri-City won 32-27 … Brandon finishes up the seven-game road trip against the Spokane Chiefs on Saturday.

» pbergson@brandonsun.com