Broncos Fall 4-2 in Red Deer
January 29, 2022 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Swift Current Broncos News Release
Swift Current, Sask. - The Swift Current Broncos (14-20-4-1) got strong performances from their goaltender and penalty kill on Friday night against the Red Deer Rebels (26-12-2-1), but fell 4-2 to kick off a three-game weekend.
The Broncos penalty kill came up big in the opening 20 minutes, denying the Rebels of any dangerous chances on two power plays by taking away passing lanes and blocking multiple shots.
Both teams came close to opening the scoring late in the period, with Raphael Pelletier and Ben King both hitting the post off the rush in the final minutes of the first period as the two teams would head into the intermission scoreless. The shots read 10-5 Red Deer after one.
Red Deer opened the scoring 4:55 into the second period. Arshdeep Bains centered the puck from the goal line for Jayden Grubbe who fired a one timer past the blocker of Isaac Poulter to give Red Deer a 1-0 lead.
Josh Davies was given a double minor for slew-footing a little over a minute after the goal, sending the Rebels to a four-minute power play. Kalan Lind would be the recipient of a Red Deer bounce as his centering pass from the goal line deflected off Sam McGinley and into the net, pushing Red Deer's lead to 2-0.
Swift Current then cut into the Rebels lead by scoring during a delayed penalty. Josh Filmon took a shot from the high slot that was deflected by Pelletier, picking up his 12th goal of the season to get the Broncos on the board at 2-1. The score remained the same heading into the second intermission with Red Deer outshooting the Broncos 30-14.
The Rebels restored their two-goal lead just over five minutes into the third period after hemming the Broncos in their own zone. Ben King took a back-door feed from Blake Gustafsson and tapped it in, scoring his 30th of the season to put Red Deer ahead 3-1.
Swift Current then took a penalty 26 seconds after the goal, but it was the Broncos taking advantage. The puck came into the Red Deer zone and was sliding toward the goal line as Chase Coward came out of his net to play it.
Coward tried to fire the puck across the ice, but it was knocked down and intercepted by Mathew Ward who scored into the open net, cutting the Rebels lead back to one with 13:51 left in regulation.
After killing off a pair of Red Deer power plays, the Broncos got a man advantage of their own after McGinley lined up Jhett Larson for a clean open-ice hit. That brought all four other Rebels players on the ice after McGinley and King was dragged out of the pile and given a minor for roughing.
Swift Current couldn't capitalize on the man advantage before heading back to the penalty kill, but the Rebels power play would get cut short as Jace Isley was called for tripping with 2:52 left in regulation.
The four-on-four expired and sent the Broncos to their third power play of the night. Poulter went to the bench for the extra attacker to give Swift current a 6-on-4 power play, but the Rebels were able to chip the puck out to centre and get a shorthanded breakaway on the empty net, sealing a 4-2 game.
The Broncos now head up to Edmonton to face the Oil Kings (27-10-2-1) on Saturday night.
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