Muissu fires winner as Wheaties top T-Birds

Kris Muissu scored midway through the third period to lift the Brandon Wheat Kings to a 2-1 victory over the visiting Seattle Thunderbirds in Western Hockey League action at Assiniboine Credit Union Place on Friday.

Brandon (9-3-0-0) received its other goal from Chase Surkan, with Antonio Martorana, replying for Seattle (3-6-0-1) in front of a crowd of 3,771.

“It was a tough game, but we had heart,” Muissu said.

Brandon head coach and general manager Marty Murray said it wasn’t pretty at times, but he liked his team’s first period.

“I thought we had a lot of jam and then we took five penalties in a 21-minute span at the end of the first and throughout the second,” Murray said. “We lost a lot of rhythm and some of our better players are sitting go the bench because they don’t kill too much and it’s hard to get back into the game. I thought our PK did a good job, and quite often, your best penalty killer is your goaltender and he did a great job.

“It wasn’t pretty the last 40, but we found a way to get it done.”

Brandon squandered a strong start to the game when they allowed a power-play goal 10 minutes 51 seconds into the first period. After killing a pair of Wheat Kings man advantages, Matthew Gard found Martonera in the slot and he lifted the puck over Brandon goalie Filip Ruzicka.

Two minutes later, newly acquired Wheat Kings forward Aiden Foster threw towering Thunderbirds defenceman Owen Hayden down at the end of a fight before throwing his arms in the air, drawing a loud cheer from an unusually energetic crowd ready for something to celebrate.

Brandon tied the game before the period ended. Josh McGregor carried the puck down along the boards and found Surkan in the low slot and he wired a shot past Seattle goalie Grayson Malinoski.

“Mags (McGregor) got the puck and was wheeling around and I saw two guys going was him so I found a soft spot and he made a great pass and I fired it,” Surkan said. “Fortunately it went in.”

Brandon encountered some penalty trouble early in the second period, giving up a 28-second five-on-three in the first minute.

It proved to be a recurring theme in the scoreless middle frame, with Brandon killing off 8:52 into penalties.

Ruzicka was terrific, stopping a deflection by Gard in front and later denying Martotana on a breakaway with his glove.

At the other end, Malinoski had to be sharp just once when he made a blocker save against Muissu on a short breakaway that was Brandon’s best chance.

In the third period, Ruzicka made another fantastic save when he dove across the net to stop Martotana on a one-timer off a two-on-one. Brandon finally took its first lead midway through the final frame off a faceoff won by Jaxon Jacobson.

Muissu found a loose puck and sent a quick shot on net that got under Malinoski’s arm with 9:16 remaining.

“One thing we harp on is there are a lot of pucks lying around the faceoff circle, and I thought in the second period we were losing a lot of those pucks,” Murray said. “Jax won it back a couple of feet and we pounced on it. We stress shooting the puck and he has such a good shot, it’s on and off his stick so quick, and it kind of surprised the goaltender a little bit and ends up being the difference in the game.”

Three minutes later, Joby Baumuller had a great chance to extend the lead, but Malinoski stopped him on a long breakaway, and then he got the blocker on a point-blank Muissu shot too.

Seattle pulled the goalie with one minute remaining, but didn’t create any Grade A chances before the final buzzer in what proved to be Brandon’s sixth one-goal victory of the season.

“That’s what this league is about, there are tight games every night,” Murray said. “It’s nice to be on the winning side of it. From a coach’s standpoint, I wish we had a little more breathing room and didn’t have it so stressful right down to the buzzer but we found a way.”

Ruzicka made 36 saves for the Wheat Kings and was named first star, with Malinoski stopping 26 shots for the Thunderbirds. Brandon was outshot for the 11th time in 12 games this season.

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

Seattle head coach Matt O’Dette said his team was looking to rebound from a 6-0 loss to the Regina Pats on Wednesday and they accomplished that.

“We were very disappointed with the game in Regina, that was maybe one of the worst games we can play,” O’Dette said. “We wanted to respond with a good effort more to our standard, more to our identity with a higher level of compete. Obviously Brandon is an excellent team, the top team in the East right and in the CHL rankings.

“We knew it was going to be a challenge and we liked the way our guys responded after a disappointing game. Moral victories don’t end up on the right side on things — there are things we can do better — but if we can match that effort night in and night out, we’ll have some success.”

ICINGS: Brandon skated without injured D Ilari Kapenen and F Gunnar Gleasman along with healthy scratches D Easten Turko, F Hudson Landmark and F Cole Hunter … Linesman Matt Granger took a hard shot into the Seattle zone in the back. It clearly hurt but he was joking about it by the next whistle … Joby Baumuller and Muissu led the Wheat Kings with four shots each on net … The game took two hours, 31 minutes to play after starting at 7:05 … In the faceoff circle, Seattle won 32-27 … Brandon next sees action when it meets the Everett Silvertips on Sunday afternoon at 4 o’clock.

» pbergson@brandonsun.com