Silvertips rally to beat Wheaties again

The Everett Silvertips continued their domination of the Brandon Wheat Kings on Sunday, rebounding from a 2-0 deficit to post a 5-3 victory in Western Hockey League action at Assiniboine Credit Union Place.

Everett (6-6-1-2) received two goals from Rhys Jamieson and singles from Jaxsin Vaughan, Lukas Kaplan and Hunter Rudolph, with Aiden Foster, Levi Ellingsen and Cameron Allard replying for Brandon (9-4-0-0) in front of a crowd of 3,197.

It was Everett’s seventh win in a row over Brandon.

Brandon head coach and general manager Marty Murray said his club had a terrific start and then lost its way against the defending champions.

“I thought the first period was probably one of our best periods of the year, to be honest with you,” Murray said. “I thought we did everything well. We stuck to the game plan and we worked and we made plays when we were able to. If not, we got to work and competed.

“That’s the disappointing part, the last 40 minutes were totally opposite.”

Brandon opened the scoring three minutes 28 seconds on their first power play. Brandon goalie Filip Ruzicka got the puck to Joby Baumuller, who fed Foster at the top of the circle in the Everett zone and he snapped a low shot inside the far post past Everett goalie Bennett Byers.

His first goal as a Wheat King and came in his second game with his new club.

“Joby made a great pass and it just found its way to my stick and I got it on the net quick,” Foster said. “… It was really nice to get it in front of the home crowd and early in the game like that to get the guys going. It doesn’t mean much now, for sure.”

The Silvertips took 14:18 to even get a shot on net as the Wheat Kings dominated the early going. By that point, Brandon had 11.

Later in the period, both Ruzicka and Byers made great saves on breakaways to keep the game close.

The Wheat Kings extended the lead 17:41 into the period on an entry after a neutral zone turnover. Jimmy Egan dropped the puck to Ryan Boyce, who in turn dropped it back to Ellingsen. The rookie forward then ripped a shot off the post to give Brandon a 2-0 lead.

It was the first point this season for both Boyce and Egan.

The game may have turned after Silvertips forward Henri Ament took a slew-footing double minor with 45 seconds left in the first period, but the shift was not in the conventional manner.

To start the second period, Brandon struggled to even gain the zone on the power play and Everett actually had better chances shorthanded.

“That’s the game for me,” Murray said. “We had a chance with a great first period and we have 3:15 left on the double minor to put the game away essentially and we came out flat and casual and our execution was poor.

“… We had five-and-a-half minutes of power play in the second period and that’s to me the difference in the game, is getting outworked.”

After their strong start to the second period, it was no surprise the Silvertips clawed their way back.

Vaughan batted in a loose puck after it hit him in front of the net 37 seconds into Everett’s first power play at the 11:25 mark, and just 20 seconds later, Jameson tipped a shot between Ruzicka’s legs and the game was square.

By the 14:35 mark, Everett led in shots 16-15.

Brandon went to their fifth power play soon after, and the only good chance was a Caine Wilkie shorthanded breakaway, with Ruzicka making a glove save as his teammates failed to even get a shot on net.

The Silvertips took their first lead when Kaplan blasted a loose puck into the net 18:27 into the second period.

By the time the teams went to the dressing rooms for the second intermission, the Wheat Kings were outshot 14-3 in the middle frame, and 18-5 in the previous 26 minutes.

“I don’t know what happened in that second period,” Foster said. “We had three minutes of power-play time and we got away from our game and got too casual and it showed. They took over the game from there.”

Brandon handed Everett a full two-minute five-on-three with 12:16 remaining in the third period — Jaxon Jacobson accidentally high sticked fellow Brandonite Reid Nicol and Foster was flagged for roughing in the ensuing melee — and the Silvertips extended the lead to 4-2 when Jamieson sent a rocket on the net during the second minor.

Exactly one minute later, Allard was the trailer on a rush and scored with 8:54 remaining. That gave Brandon some life, with the hosts mounting significant pressure for the first time since the opening frame.

The stake in the heart for Brandon came with 5:34 left when Kaplan put a shot off the cross bar that bounced around before Rudolph knocked it in to put Everett up 5-3.

Ruzicka went to the bench for the extra attacker with three minutes remaining, and Brandon had chances, but couldn’t beat Byers.

“They’re relentless,” Murray said. “They have a lot of presence from their championship team so they work and they stay in it. It would have been easy for them to fold the tent after one but they came out with purpose. You could see it in their first shift, and they outworked us. When you outwork your opponent, you often get the two points.”

Ruzicka made 27 saves for the Wheat Kings, with Byers stopping 26 shots for the Silvertips.

Brandon went 1-for-5 on the power play, with Everett scoring twice in three chances.

ICINGS: Brandon skated without healthy scratches D Ethan Young, F Hudson Landmark and F Cole Hunter and injured D Ilari Kapanen and F Gunnar Gleasman … Kris Muissu missed 15 minutes of the first period after he drew a 10-minute misconduct for a jersey violation during a fight with Jaxsin Vaughan … Baumuller led the Wheat Kings with six shots on net … The game took two hours, 26 minutes to play … In the faceoff circle, Brandon won 39-18 … Brandon next sees action when it heads on the road to meet the Moose Jaw Warriors on Tuesday and the Prince Albert Raiders on Wednesday. They then host the Lethbridge Hurricanes on Friday and the Swift Current Broncos on Sunday.

» pbergson@brandonsun.com

 

Silvertips 5, Wheat Kings 3

First Period

1. Brandon, Foster 6 (Baumuller, Ruzicka) 3:28 (pp).

2. Brandon, Ellingsen 2 (Boyce, Egan) 17:41.

Penalties — Muissu Bdn (fighting major, 10-minute misconduct) 1:00, Vaughan Evt (fighting major) 1:00, Vlooswyk Evt (roughing) 2:25, Byers Evt (trapezoid violation) 11:33, Ament Evt (slew footing, double minor) 19:15.

Second Period

3. Everett, Vaughan 5 (Liske, Rudolph) 11:25 (pp).

4. Everett, Jamieson 3 (Vlooswyk, Uyeda) 11:45.

5. Everett, Kaplan 1 (Uyeda, Vlooswyk) 18:27.

Penalties — Bhathal Bdn (charging) 10:48, Vaughan Evt (tripping) 15:05.

Third Period

6. Everett, Jamieson 4 (Blengino, Vlooswyk) 9:57 (pp).

7. Brandon, Allard 1 (Foster) 11:06.

8. Everett, Rudolph 1 (Kaplan, Ament) 14:26.

Penalties — Lepinski Evt (hooking) 1:44, Jacobson Bdn (high sticking, double minor) 7:44, Foster Bdn (roughing) 7:44.

Shots on goal by

Brandon 13 3 13 — 29

Everett 4 14 14 — 32

Goal — Brandon: Ruzicka (L, 6-3-0-0). Everett: Byers (W, 3-5-0-1).

Power plays (goals-chances) — Brandon: 1-5; Everett: 2-3.

Referees — Nolan Powell, Wyatt Rapsky.

Linesmen — Josh Miko, Andrew Paul.

Attendance — 3,197 in Brandon.