Baumuller snipes twice to douse Blazers

Joby Baumuller had two goals and an assist as the visiting Brandon Wheat Kings beat the Kamloops Blazers 3-1 in Western Hockey League action at Sandman Centre on Wednesday.

Brandon (5-2-0-0) received a goal and an assist from Kris Muissu, with Andrew Thomson replying for Kamloops (2-3-1-0) in front of a crowd of 2,689.

The Wheat Kings are now 3-1-0-0 on the trip after a 3-1 loss to the Prince George Cougars on Friday, a 6-2 victory over the Victoria Royals on Sunday and a 2-1 shootout win over the Vancouver Giants on Tuesday.

They finish up with games against the Penticton Vees on Friday at 9:05 p.m. (CT), and the Kelowna Rockets on Saturday at 8:05 p.m.

Brandon head coach and general manager Marty Murray said it was a good win by his club, which pulled into Kamloops early Wednesday morning.

“I thought it was a pretty gritty effort,” Murray said. “We played last night on the road and arrived at 3 in the morning and they were sitting there waiting for us. I thought the kids overcame a lot of adversity tonight to put up a pretty good effort and it was a big win overall.”

Neither team created much in the first period despite power-play chances as both clubs kept good scoring chances to a minimum.

The game turned on a slew-footing double minor taken behind the play by Kamloops forward Brady Ondrus 11 minutes 24 seconds into the second period.

The Wheat Kings power play, which started the season ice cold, scored on the first penalty when Baumuller fired a low one-timer off a spin-o-rama pass by Jaxon Jacobson that beat Kamloops goalie Kaeden Tate.

Just 71 seconds later, Brandon came in off the rush and Muissu lifted a nifty give-and-go pass from Baumuller into the top of the net for the big Russian forward’s third goal of the season.

Kamloops hit the post on the next shift as they pressed, but after a faceoff in the Blazers end, Baumuller won the draw cleanly back to rookie defenceman Cruz Jim and then deflected his shot to make it 3-0.

The three goals came in less than four minutes.

“There’s no denying Joby is a big part of our team and our offence,” Murray said. “He’s a streaky guy. I told Romer and Whitey (assistant coaches Aaron Rome and Ryan White) that he’s a funny guy, he gets a couple and all of a sudden they start to drop in for him. Hopefully it’s a sign, but good for him to get a couple tonight. He was a major contributor to the win.”

The visitors faced some unexpected adversity late in the third period when they were fully in control.

With 4:10 left in regulation, Wheat Kings defenceman Josh McGregor took a boarding major when he hit Blazers forward Teagen Bouchard into the side boards as the 16-year-old rookie turned away from him on the rush. The play went to a review, with the two referees watching a screen feet from the Brandonite and ultimately deciding to banish him.

Fortunately, Bouchard popped right up and was fine.

The Blazers struck 50 seconds later, with 3:10 left, when Thomson jammed the puck past Brandon goalie Ryley Budd on a scramble in front.

Kamloops pulled the goalie with 76 seconds left, and Brandon’s timely shot blocking immediately took away a chance.

The Blazers managed seven shots on the final power play but weren’t able to get any closer.

Budd made 29 saves for the Wheat Kings, with Tate stopping 25 shots for the Blazers.

“I thought Ryley was outstanding again tonight,” Murray said. “It’s peace of mind to have two quality goaltenders we can count on night in and night out. I thought Ryley was tremendous, especially in the third on the PK. I thought he did a great job of holding down the fort.”

Brandon went 2-for-3 on the power play, with Kamloops scoring once in four chances, including the major.

While the Wheat Kings did a good job of filling shot lanes and blocking shots when they could, they did a tremendous job in the faceoff circle, where they won an overwhelming majority of the draws when they were down a man.

Overall, they led 35-27 in that department.

“That’s an opportunity to knock off 20 or 30 seconds on the PK,” Murray said. “Those are important and I thought we did a real good job of winning faceoffs. Outside of that, one thing we really stress is help coming from outside the hash marks to maintain possession of the puck. Every second is precious on a PK.”

ICINGS: Brandon skated without healthy scratches F Gunnar Gleasman, F Ahmad Fayad and D Ethan Young and the injured D Ilari Kapanen and F Jimmy Egan … F Cole Hunter returned to the lineup after suffering a lower-body injury in practice in the second week of the season … Brady Turko led the Wheat Kings with four shots on net … The game took two hours, 23 minutes to play … Brandon hasn’t shut out Kamloops in the Internet era. The Blazers have two in that time.

» pbergson@brandonsun.com

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Wheat Kings 3, Blazers 1

First Period

No Scoring.

Penalties — Dumansky Kam (hooking) 4:56, E. Turko Bdn (boarding) 13:51.

Second Period

1. Brandon, Baumuller 2 (Jacobson. Muissu) 11:32 (pp).

2. Brandon, Muissu 3 (Baumuller, Grubb) 13:43 (pp).

3. Brandon, Baumuller 3 (Jim) 16:14.

Penalties — Landmark Bdn (slashing) 8:51, Ondrus Kam (slew-footing, double minor) 11:24.

Third Period

4. Kamloops, Thomson 4 (Bonkowski, Ferreira) 16:50 (pp).

Penalties — Ellingsen Bdn (roughing) 6:42, Surkan Bdn (10-minute misconduct, mouthguard infraction) 10:52, McGregor Bdn (boarding major, game misconduct) 15:50.

Shots on goal by

Brandon 8 15 5 — 28

Kamloops 7 8 15 — 30

Goal — Brandon: Budd (W, 3-0-0-0). Kamloops: Tate (L, 2-1-0-0).

Power plays (goals-chances) — Brandon: 2-3; Kamloops: 1-4.

Referees — Bobby Jo Love, Ward Pateman.

Linesmen — Riley Balson, Ty Slaney.

Attendance — 2,689 in Kamloops.