Carels, Cougars end Wheat Kings streak

Carson Carels of Cypress River had a goal and an assist as the Prince George Cougars snapped the Brandon Wheat Kings’ six-game winning streak, handing the hosts a 4-2 defeat in Western Hockey League action at Assiniboine Credit Union Place on Tuesday.

Prince George (35-20-2-0) received two goals from Terik Parascak and a penalty-shot goal from Dawson Seitz, with Luke Mistelbacher and Nick Johnson replying for Brandon (34-23-1-0) in front of a crowd of 3,279.

“Overall, I think it doesn’t matter how short-staffed we are, we have to take care of business every single night, especially this time around. We’re reaching for that fourth spot to get home-ice advantage and we can’t have games like that.”

The Calgary Hitmen beat the Moose Jaw Warriors earlier in the day, which means fifth-place Brandon is now five points back of the Hitmen and they have two games in hand.

Brandon head coach and general manager Marty Murray said it wasn’t a great night for his club, which was outshot 50-24.

“It was men against boys for the most part,” Murray said. “They play hard, they play fast, they’re in your face and we looked pretty tentative out there. I thought we got outworked. Our puck battles were percentage very low for us. You get what you deserve most of the time in this game and we did.”

Brandon goalie Filip Ruzicka was tested early and often, as the Cougars put four pucks on net in the first 70 seconds, with the reigning goalie of the week making a terrific pad save on Parascak at the side of the net when he was all alone.

While Prince George didn’t capitalize, Brandon did on its fourth shot.

The Wheat Kings kept the Cougars pinned down low off a faceoff and Prabh Bhathal found Mistelbacher with a terrific backhand feed from the end boards, with the overage forward from Steinbach beating Prince George goalie Joshua Ravensbergen on the deke.

The Wheat Kings had an outstanding chance to extend the lead three minutes later on a 39-second five-on-three, but the Cougars were fortunate that Brandon’s best chance was denied by a sensational save by Ravensbergen and then scooped to safety by his defencemen as it bounced behind him.

Just after the man advantage ended, the smooth-skating Cougars defenceman Carels was denied on a long breakaway by Ruzicka’s pad as the action went end to end.

Prince George couldn’t have scripted a better start to the second period.

As they killed the back half of a penalty, they charged up the ice on an odd-man rush and a wicked shot by Carels beat Ruzicka but bounced off the crossbar into the slot and right onto the stick of Parascak, who deposited it into the net to tie the game.

When the assist by Carels was announced, there was a healthy cheer from the crowd, suggesting a large contingent from Cypress River made the trip.

By the 25-minute mark of the game, Brandon was 0-for-4 on the power play, had given up a shorthanded goal and hadn’t taken a penalty yet.

If you can’t score on the power play, you better not give anything up to the other side, but on Prince George’s first man advantage, Carels blasted a shot in from the point that beat Ruzicka cleanly. Brandon then took two more penalties in quick succession and Prince George poured on the pressure, doing everything but scoring again.

By the time the teams went to the dressing rooms, the visitors had outshot the hosts 26-5 in the middle frame and were within striking distance entirely because of their netminder.

“In the second period it was 26 shots,” Murray said. “We sure did a disservice to the logo. Filip held us in there. Without him, it could have been ugly.”

Brandon wasn’t creating much when they suddenly tied the game. Brady Turko carried the puck in, and when he fell behind the net, Jordan Gavin found Johnson in front and he flipped it over the goalie. The shots were 46-19 at the time.

“It was a really good play by Turks,” Johnson said. “His feet didn’t stop moving and that’s what we like to do, especially on our forecheck. Gavin made a good play behind the net cross-crease and I put it in the net.”

But just 80 seconds later, at the 6:29 mark, Seitz was tripped up on a breakaway and awarded a penalty shot. He beat the big goalie low glove side to restore the Prince George lead.

“We got back in the game, tie it 2-2, and that’s when we have to clamp down,” Murray said. “Two shifts later we get on the wrong side of people, haul a guy down and it’s game over.”

Brandon finally turned it on with a few minutes and had the most zone time since the first period, but couldn’t beat the San Jose Sharks prospect Ravensbergen to tie.

Brandon pulled Ruzicka for the extra attacker with 2:15 remaining, but Parascak scored into the empty net with 33.1 seconds remaining.

Ruzicka made 46 saves for the Wheat Kings, with Ravensbergen stopping 22 shots for the Cougars.

Brandon went 0-for-5 on the power play, with Prince George scoring once in three chances.

Prince George head coach Mark Lamb said it was a good outing by his group.

“I saw a lot of good things,” Lamb said. “They got the first goal and I liked what we did. We played to our identity and played a heckuva hockey game.”

ICINGS: Brandon skated without injured D Merrek Arpin, F Easton Odut, F Carter Klippenstein, F Caleb Hadland and F Joby Baumuller … D Dylan Ronald and F Chase Surkan returned to the lineup after injury absences … Prince George defenceman Kaeson Fisher made his return to his hometown. The former Everett Silvertip was acquired by the Cougars on Jan. 7, and he left the Manitoba Junior Hockey League’s Winkler Flyers to join them, with his debut on Jan. 10 … Prince George scored a shorthanded goal, a power-play goal, a penalty-shot goal and an empty-net goal … Mistelbacher led the Wheat Kings with six shots on net … The game took two hours, 30 minutes to play … In the faceoff circle, Brandon won 33-29 … The Wheat Kings continue their home stand on Friday when the Regina Pats visit.

» pbergson@brandonsun.com