Wheat Kings fall in OT again in Game 2

The Calgary Hitmen overcame a two-goal deficit in the third period and Ethan Moore scored his second of the game midway through the first overtime as they beat the visiting Brandon Wheat Kings 6-5 in Game 2 of their Western Hockey League quarterfinal series at Scotiabank Saddledome on Sunday.

Calgary received its other goals from Kale Dach, Andrei Molgachev, Julien Maze, Ethan Moore and Axel Hurtig, with Luke Mistelbacher scoring twice and adding an assist and Jimmy Egan, Grayson Burzynski and Jaxon Jacobson, also replying for Brandon in front of a crowd of 2,769.

The Hitmen won 1-0 in triple overtime in Game 1 on Friday and will take a 2-0 lead as the series shifts to Virden’s Tundra Oil and Gas Place for host Game 3 on Tuesday, Game 4 on Thursday and a potential Game 5 on Friday, all starting at 7 p.m.

Brandon head coach and general manager Marty Murray said losing twice in extra time after playing well for long stretches isn’t easy.

“It’s really tough,” Murray said. “It’s a hard pill to swallow, there’s no question. You’re one shot away in each game from being up 2-0. It is what it is. You have to play a full 60 minutes, it can’t be part of a game. We’re guilty of that tonight.”

Calgary continued to fire the puck on Sunday after putting 65 shots on net Friday, with Brandon goalie Filip Ruzicka facing his first shot just 26 seconds into what proved to be a terrible first period for the visitors.

On a delayed penalty, the Hitmen moved the puck around and Dach put a shot past Ruzicka eight minutes 30 seconds into the game to open the scoring.

At that point, the shots were 6-2 in Calgary’s favour and Brandon had created virtually no offensive pressure.

Just 35 seconds later, Calgary forward Keaton Jundt took a slashing penalty, sending the visitors to the power play. The Wheat Kings managed just one shot on net, and 32 seconds after the penalty ended, Calgary rushed into the Brandon zone and Molgachev beat Ruzicka with a deke to take a 2-0 lead.

When the Wheat Kings had a second power play, the best saves came from Ruzicka when he denied Jundt on a partial shorthanded breakaway, and then a second full breakaway by Dach after a neutral-zone turnover sent the high-scoring forward in.

The Hitmen went to their second power play with 40.1 seconds left in the period, and nearly scored again when Ruzicka made a save but knocked the puck back towards the net. Fortunately for him, defenceman Gio Pantelas reached in and shovelled the puck off the goal-line to safety with 18.9 seconds remaining.

By the time the teams went to the intermission, Calgary led 15-3 on the shot clock, despite the fact Brandon had spent four minutes on the power play.

“We were incredibly slow (to start), and that ends up being a big factor in the game obviously,” Murray said. “Down the stretch hurt us too, but the first period, we just have to crawl out of the hole. Once we got going in the second we were fine but in the playoffs if you don’t start the game on time, you’re in trouble.”

The Wheat Kings enjoyed a more spirited start to the second period, putting four shots on net int the first five minutes but failing to beat Calgary goalie Eric Tu.

At the other end, Ruzicka used his pad to slow the puck and grabbed it behind him with his glove when Jundt dashed in on a breakaway at the seven-minute mark.

Beyond Calgary’s defensive prowess, they had a 24-9 edge in the faceoff circle in the first 28 minutes of the game.

Egan finally scored Brandon’s first goal of the series 11:38 into the middle frame — that was 136:49 minutes into the series — when Tu denied Ryan Boyce on a point-blank chance but the puck went back to the American forward and he fired it in.

It took 79 seconds more for them to score their second goal, when Burzynski tied the game with a low shot off the rush.

The Hitmen immediately took a penalty, and after Mistelbacher hit a crossbar, the Hitmen came in on a two-man breakaway but Mistelbacher skated back to strip the puck away.

All that momentum was lost when Hurtig made a clearing attempt that hit the stick of Brandon’s Brady Turko and bounced to Maze as he stepped out of the penalty box. He went in on a breakaway and restored the Calgary lead at the 15:29 mark.

Tu made his best save of the game with his glove on a one-timer by Turko before the period ended.

The Wheat Kings couldn’t have started the third period any better. Mistelbacher tied it 57 seconds into the final frame from behind the goal-line when his bad-angle shot hit Tu and bounced in. Then, just 14 seconds later, Mistelbacher skated up the wing and fired the puck inside the far post for his team’s first lead of the series.

They extended the lead at the 7:34 mark when Prabh Bhathal took a hit that freed the puck, and Jacobson chipped it past a defenceman to create a breakaway. The Wheat Kings forward lost an edge as he came in was almost horizontal as he slid towards the net, but calmly flicked the puck past Tu to make it 5-3.

“We just had an intensity in our game and second and third efforts on some pucks and being dialled in,” Murray said of why his team was suddenly creating chances. “It’s night and day. Watching in real time and then on video, we’ll see the effort level and second and third efforts on pucks and staying in the battles.

“The Egan goal got us going a little bit. It’s disheartening just not to finish it out.”

Calgary got back within a goal after Moore collided with Ruzicka on a power play. Both got back up and Moore knocked in a rebound with 7:07 left in the third period.

The Hitmen pulled Tu for the extra attacker with 1:41 remaining and a faceoff in the Brandon zone. Thirty seconds later, with 71 seconds remaining, a Maze shot hit Hurtig and bounced into the net and it was 5-5.

In overtime, Brandon had all the pressure in the opening minutes but went to the penalty kill at the 8:17 mark.

Brandon did a terrific job of killing the penalty until Maze put a shot on net and Moore knocked in the rebound to become the overtime hero for the second night in a row. It was Maze’s fifth assist of the night.

Ruzicka made 38 saves for the Wheat Kings, with Tu stopping 26 shots for the Hitmen.

Brandon went 0-for-3 on the power play, with Calgary scoring once in three chances.

The Wheat Kings lost a close, tight-checking Game 1 and a wide open offensive Game 2, but at least showed themselves they could score again.

“We’re a team that scores and we have a lot of depth on our team,” Murray said. “We believe we can put the puck in the net offensively. We had some real good looks that we didn’t capitalize on and it’s a game of inches. It’s unfortunate it had to end the way it did.”

ICINGS: Brandon skated without injured D Merrek Arpin, D Dylan Ronald, F Easton Odut and F Carter Klippenstein plus healthy scratches F Gunnar Gleasman, F Ahmad Fayad, D Cruz Jim and D Dylan Ronald … Mistelbacher led the Wheat Kings with five shots on net … The game took three hours, two minutes to play … In the faceoff circle, Calgary dominated 53-27. Hitmen centre Harrison Lodewyk won a remarkable 26 of his 32 draws and Molgachev went 12-for-15.

» pbergson@brandonsun.com

 

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Hitmen 6, Wheat Kings 5 (OT)

First Period

1. Calgary, Dach 1 (Maze, Aura) 8:30.

2. Calgary, Molgachev 1 (Amrhein, Maze) 11:37.

Penalties — Jundt Cgy (slashing) 9:05, Johnson Bdn (hooking) 11:54, Lodewyk Cgy (hooking) 14:50, Bhathal Bdn (tripping) 19:19.

Second Period

3. Brandon, Egan 1 (Surkan, Boyce) 11:38.

4. Brandon, Burzynski 1 (Jacobson, Bhathal) 12:57.

5. Calgary, Maze 1 (Hurtig) 15:23.

Penalties — Maze Cgy (roughing) 13:17.

Third Period

6. Brandon, Mistelbacher 1 ( Jacobson, Skvortsov) 0:57.

7. Brandon, Mistelbacher 2 (Bhathal) 1:11.

8. Brandon, Jacobson 1 (Bhathal, Mistelbacher) 7:34

9. Calgary, Moore 2 (Maze, MacBeath) 12:53 (pp).

10. Calgary, Hurtig 1 ( Maze, Lodewyk) 18:49.

Penalties — Burzynski Bdn (cross checking) 11:45.

Overtime

11. Calgary, Moore 3 (Maze) 10:04. (pp).

Penalties — Egan Bdn (checking from behind) 8:17.

Shots on goal by

Brandon 3 13 9 6 — 31

Calgary 15 10 14 5 — 45

Goal — Brandon: Ruzicka (OL, 0-2). Calgary: Tu (OW, 2-0).

Power plays (goals-chances) — Brandon: 0-3; Calgary: 2-4.

Referees — Simon Desbiens, Mike Campbell. 

Linesmen — Josh Meier, Will Mosswick.

Attendance — 2,769 in Calgary.