Wheat Kings rally to win 40th game of season

Brady Turko scored the winner seven minutes into the third period as the Brandon Wheat Kings beat the visiting Regina Pats 4-2 in Western Hockey League action at Assiniboine Credit Union Place on Saturday.

Fifth-place Brandon (40-26-2-0) received its other goals from Nick Johnson, Daniil Skvortsov and Luke Mistelbacher, with Cohen Klassen and Zachary Lansard replying for seventh-place Regina (25-34-7-2) in front of a crowd of 4,009. The Wheat Kings beat the Pats 6-3 in Regina on Friday.

“It’s pretty nice because we can start the playoffs off on a good note,” Skvortsov said. “We won the last two games so that’s pretty nice for us. I’m so excited to start the playoffs.”

Brandon had been locked into fifth place entering the weekend’s action and will face the fourth-place Calgary Hitmen in the first round, but Regina was helped when the Medicine Hat Tigers swept a pair from the eighth-place Red Deer Rebels, and also by the Swift Current Broncos topping the Moose Jaw Warriors on Saturday.

A Moose Jaw win would have knocked Red Deer out of the playoffs and tied them with Regina.

Brandon head coach and general manager Marty Murray said it was an up-and-down affair with some big moments.

“In the first period I thought we were pretty solid, the first half of the second period was real ugly and then we chipped away a little bit in the second and got a big goal by Skvortsov with the screen to stop the bleeding a little bit and get us back in the game.

“In the third period I thought both teams played hard and we had some chances and were able to capitalize on one.”

Brandon probably should have taken the lead 14 minutes into the game when defenceman Matt Paranych and goaltender Taylor Tabashniuk collided behind the net. The puck came out front but Mistelbacher wasn’t able to get a good shot away and missed the open net.

They were able to capitalize soon after.

With 2:57 left in the period, Pats callup forward Liam Pue made a terrific play to knock down a knee-high pass in the slot but the puck got away from him and Johnson took it and quickly fired it between the legs of Tabashniuk. The hosts were in a generous mood to start the second, letting the Pats take the first nine shots and score twice.

After a Wheat Kings rush was stopped cold at one end, the Pats skated back up the ice and Klassen ripped a shot past Brandon goalie Filip Ruzicka high to the glove at the 5:26 mark.

Just 39 seconds later, Lansard was left all alone and beat the big goalie to give Regina the lead.

With the momentum decidedly in the Pats favour, two minutes later, Skvortsov fired a shot past Prabh Bhathal’s screen for his first WHL goal. The big Russian defenceman had a wide smile on his face when he returned to the bench.

“I was pretty excited actually the whole season for my first goal and it happened and I’m so glad,” Skvortsov said. “I think my mom is so happy for me too. It’s a really good day for me today.”

Murray said it was great to see him score.

“It’s nice for everybody to contribute, and I’m sure it weighs on guys a little bit when they haven’t got one,” Murray said. “I was happy to see him put one in.” Brandon regained the lead for good at the 6:21 mark of the third period. Hadland skated into the Regina zone and made a no-look backhanded feed to the trailer Turko, who fired it inside the far post to put the Wheat Kings up 3-2.

The Pats went to the second power play of the game on the next shift, and on a two-man breakaway by Lansard and Jace Egland, the latter hit the post.

Regina pulled Tabashniuk for an extra attacker with 1:34 left, but Jaxon Jacobson found his linemate Mistelbacher for his 42nd goal of the season, which came into the empty net with 43.7 seconds remaining.

Ruzicka made 27 saves for the Wheat Kings, with Tabashniuk stopping 37 shots for the Pats.

Regina went 0-for-2 on the power play: Brandon didn’t have an opportunity

Pats head coach Brad Herauf said his club, which scratched seven players, played pretty well.

“Obviously we were a little short-staffed,” Herauf said. “We have lots of guys banged up like everyone does at this point of the season. I just love our commitment. We have a game plan and I thought we really went after them. We hit a couple of posts in the third period.

“We got outshot but Brandon is a really good team, they’re higher than us in the standings for a reason, but I loved our team’s compete, I loved our team’s resilience throughout the game and we showed up to a win a hockey game.

“Unfortunately, the bounces just didn’t go our way today.”

With the win, Brandon posted identical 20-13-1-0 marks at home and on the road, becoming just one of seven clubs in the league to win 20 in both. It was the first time Brandon pulled off the 20-20 feat since the 2015-16 season when they won the championship, and the first 40-win season for the Wheat Kings since 2017-18.

“If you look at the big picture, we had 40 wins this year — 20 at home and 20 on the road — and there are seven teams that did that 20 and 20,” Murray said. “Especially with the adversity we faced in the second half where there were a lot of nights we were playing less than a full lineup and affiliates or what have you, it showed a lot of character by our guys to get to where we’re at right now.”

ICINGS: Brandon skated without injured D Merrek Arpin, D Grayson Burzynski, F Easton Odut and F Carter Klippenstein, plus healthy scratches F Ryan Boyce, D Cruz Jim and F Ahmad Fayad … Instead of a rookie lap, Regina’s two old guys, overagers Caden Brown and Ephram McNutt, headed out first during warmup for a veterans’ lap … Wheat Kings forward Chase Surkan turned 17 on Saturday … Mistelbacher led the Wheat Kings with eight shots on net … The game took a speedy two hours, 13 minutes to play after it started at 6:19 p.m., due to Brandon’s year-end awards ceremony … In the faceoff circle, Regina won 30-27.

» pbergson@brandonsun.com