Muissu’s four goals not enough as Wheaties fall

Brandon Wheat Kings forward Kris Muissu scored four times but the Regina Pats replied with five unanswered goals in the second half of the game to win 6-4 in Western Hockey League pre-season action on Saturday at Ochapowace, Sask.

Regina (4-0-0-0)received two goals each from Samuel Karsay and Connor Bear, with singles coming from Maddox Schultz and Cohen Klassen. Brandon fell to 0-2-0-0 after losing 6-3 to Regina on Friday at Assiniboine Credit Union Place.

Wheat Kings head coach and general manager Marty Murray liked what he saw after a disappointing effort the night before.

“I thought it was a much better effort,” Murray said. “Obviously the end result was disappointing but we wanted to see some strides. We weren’t happy with the effort at all (Friday) night in the first half of the game and I thought we battled hard (on Saturday). They had a lot of veterans in the lineup and we were pretty inexperienced and I thought our kids took some strides.”

The overage Russian forward Muissu gave Brandon a 2-0 led in the first 11 minutes 41 seconds before Schultz got one back for Regina before the period ended.

“He was a horse tonight,” Murray said of Muissu. “(Friday) was his first real game in North America so it will take some adjusting but he was a beast tonight. He honestly could have had five or six. He hit a goal post on a power move and had a real chance in the second as well. Hopefully it’s a sign of good things to come.”

Muissu made a good night even better when he scored power-play goals 40 seconds apart in the first six minutes of the second period to give Brandon a 4-1 lead that proved to be the high point of the night for the Wheat Kings.

While the Wheat Kings certainly aren’t practising their special teams yet — and didn’t have many of their top players in the lineup anyway — Murray did notice some things he liked.

“You put good players in situations and they make plays,” Murray said. “That was the case tonight on the goals. We had three nice power-play goals, and obviously we gave up three as well, so it’s an area we’ll have to work on, but I thought the power play looked pretty good.”

Regina stormed back when Karsay, an 18-year-old Slovakian forward, scored on the power play at the 10:03 mark and then added an even-strength goal three minutes later to draw the Pats back within a goal.

Regina’s power play took over in the third period, tying the game 30 seconds into the final frame on a goal by Bear, and their first lead when Klassen scored at 13:58. Bear added an empty netter with 56 seconds remaining to seal the victory.

Brandon goalie Ryley Budd made 24 saves for the Wheat Kings, with Regina’s Marek Schlenker stopping 17 shots for the Pats.

Brandon went 3-for-6 on the power play, with Regina scoring three goals in four chances.

While the Wheat Kings suffered a pair of losses, Murray noted the pre-season is about evaluation and experience for young players

“There are a lot of guys who it was their first taste of junior hockey and the Western Hockey League so you’re going to make mistakes and there will be nerves,” Murray said. “As a staff, we looked for them to make improvements and be coachable and watch video and see how they respond, and I thought our guys responded well. (Friday) night we were let down in the compete area of the game and I thought our guys came out hungry tonight and had a decent showing.

“Obviously, we gave up the game winner late but it’s a process and I thought the guys took the information we gave them and applied it and did a good job.”

The teams once again played the three-on-three overtime as part of the WHL project to see if the league’s GMs want to institute new rules forbidding players from leaving the offensive zone with the puck and circling back. Neither team scored on Friday but Brandon emerged the winner on Saturday after Hudson Landmark sniped with a couple minutes remaining.

“Landmark scored a nice goal,” Murray said. “He went down the wall and went bar down.” Brandon returns to pre-season action when the Moose Jaw Warriors visit on Friday at 7 p.m. The teams reconvene at Temple Gardens Centre in Moose Jaw a night later, with that game also starting at 7 p.m. (CDT).

It will be an interesting few days ahead at the rink with one significant addition and several subtractions.

Veteran forward Jimmy Egan, who has been nursing an upper-body injury, is expected to report to Brandon this week, but they will be losing Brady Turko, Filip Ruzicka and Joby Baumuller to National Hockey League camps. They also reassigned 15-year-old prospects Rylan Edwards and Marko Malbasa to their respective clubs.

In addition, forward Prabh Bhathal suffered an upper-body injury late in the game, and forward Gunnar Gleasman and defenceman Ethan Young remain out.

That means, Brandon will have two goalies, seven healthy defencemen and 16 forwards at practice this week if Egan can participate.

“We’ll have to look at some things,” Murray said. “Prabh got hurt so another injury. We’ll have to look at everything, how Young is doing, Egan is coming back into town. We’ll take a step back and look at everything but we might go down a couple of bodies.”

ICINGS: Brandon’s healthy scratches were Malbasa, Baumuller, Ruzicka, Brady Turko, Josh McGregor, Jaxon Jacobson, Carson Ralph, Cameron Coulter, Kade Pierson and Levi Ellingsen … Muissu and Cameron Allard led the Wheat Kings with five shots each on net … The game took two hours, 24 minutes to play … Faceoff statistics weren’t charted.

» pbergson@brandonsun.com

SATURDAY

Pats 6, Wheat Kings 4

First Period

1. Brandon, Muissu 1 (Allard, Grubb) 3:57 (pp).

2. Brandon, Muissu 2 (Bhathal) 11:41.

3. Regina, Schultz 1 (Hamilton) 17:21 (pp).

Penalties — Schultz Reg (high sticking) 3:04, Worthington Bdn (roughing) 9:59, Deschamps Reg (roughing) 9:59, Landmark Bdn (roughing) 16:21, Deschamps Reg (roughing) 16:21, Grubb Bdn (high sticking, double minor) 17:14.

Second Period

4. Brandon, Muissu 3 (Surkan) 4:44 (pp).

5. Brandon, Muissu 4 (Wilson, Surkan) 5:24 (pp).

6. Regina, Karsay 1 (Bear, Moore) 10:03 (pp).

7. Regina, Karsay 2 (Wagner) 13:17.

Penalties — Moore Reg (slashing) 4:25, Egland Reg (high sticking) 4:41, Kapanen Bdn (boarding) 8:41, Leonard Reg (cross checking) 16:12, Fayad Bdn (hooking) 19:24.

Third Period

8. Regina, Bear 1 (Wagner) 0:30(pp).

9. Regina, Klassen 1 (Moore, Trottier) 13:58.

10. Regina, Bear 2 (Fawcett) 19:04 (en).

Penalties — Bhathal Bdn (fighting major) 1:48, Leonard Reg (fighting major) 1:48, Edwards Bdn (hooking) 11:21, Moore Reg (hooking) 14:19, Bear Reg (roughing) 16:57.

Shots on goal by

Regina 9 11 10 — 30

Brandon 8 7 6 — 21

Goal — Brandon: Regina: Schlenker (W, 1-0-0-0). Budd (L, 0-1-0-0).

Power plays (goals-chances) — Regina: 3-4. Brandon: 3-6.

Referees — Wyatt Rapsky, Ben Croker.

Linesmen — Logan Young, Josh Blondeau.

Attendance — n/a in Ochapowace, Sask.