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WHL Red Deer Rebels

Goaltenders Front and Centre as Rebels Slip Past Oil Kings

December 30, 2018 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Red Deer Rebels News Release


The Western Hockey League playoffs are still nearly three months down the road, but Saturday's contest at the Centrium felt like a post-season preview.

"It was more of a playoff type game," said Rebels GM/head coach Brent Sutter, following his club's 2-1 shootout victory over the Edmonton Oil Kings.

"It was tight, both goalies were really good."

Indeed, the back-and forth affair featured outstanding netminding from Red Deer's Ethan Anders, who made 38 saves, and his Oil Kings counterpart Dylan Myskiw, who blocked 29 shots.

The contest was a recovery of sorts for the Rebels, who fell 6-0 to the Vancouver Giants on home ice 24 hours earlier.

"Just overall I thought our whole game was completely different than last night," said Sutter. "Our awareness was much better, we did a good job of being alert and doing the things we have to do within our team game.

"I just thought a lot of guys played a lot better here tonight than last night. That's encouraging."

The game was scoreless through more than two and half periods, but despite the lack of goals the contest featured a multitude of offensive opportunities. It was also a physical and sometimes mean-spirited contest, with both Central Division rivals delivering big hits.

The Rebels finally broke through during the second half of a double boarding minor assessed to Edmonton's Vladimir Alistrov, as Jeff de Wit buried a rebound for his 20th goal of the season at 12:12 of the third period. Myskiw couldn't handle a shot by Reese Johnson, who had taken a cross-ice pass from Brandon Hagel, and de Wit deposited the loose puck.

"We moved pucks well," said Sutter of his power play, which was zero-for-six Friday and one-for-four against the Oil Kings. "It was obviously a big power play goal.

"I thought every power play, except the first two minutes of the double minor, we moved pucks and generated some offence. We shot pucks, that was the difference. We haven't been doing that recently. We did that tonight and created more scoring chances."

The lead held up until Conner McDonald, from the high slot, scored bar down with 2:16 remaining.

The overtime produced nothing except for a hit post by Hagel and a save by Myskiw on a rising shot by Johnson, and a tremendous stop by Anders on Trey Fix-Wolansky that forced a shootout.

Anders turned denied tall four Edmonton shooters that he faced in the skills competition, while Myskiw stopped the first three Red Deer shooters before Cam Hausinger cut wide and picked the far corner for the winner.

"It's probably his best game he's had in awhile. He was sharp," Sutter said of his goaltender. "But we need that from Andy. If you want to be a starting goalie in this league and move on to the next level you have to play that way.

"He got away from that, but he was challenged today and he responded to the challenge."

"That was a big game for both myself and the team," said Anders, who was looking forward to Sunday's rematch in Edmonton. "We have a big divisional game against them tomorrow, so getting a win today was big for sure.

"I had a tough last couple of games so it was good to get a bounce back game like that. Gets my confidence up, for sure."

Anders was tested early and faced 13 shots in the first period.

"It's a confidence booster when you make a big save right off the bat. You're like, OK, got to keep the team in it," he said.

Anders was a mere two minutes and change from pitching a shutout, while Myskiw also did some heady work to keep the game scoreless until late.

"You don't see a whole lot of that these days, so it was nice," said Anders, referring to the lengthy scoreless tie. "Myskiw played an awesome game as well so it good for both of us."

Sutter said he expects more of the same over the final half of the regular season. Tight games will be the norm, he stated.

"This time of the year there's going to be a lot of one goal games. You have to learn to play in them and you have to learn to play the game the right way. Tonight we did a good job of that."

Notable: While Anders was the busier of the two netminders and came up with a large handful of monster stops, Myskiw's robbery of Johnson on a one-timer during the third-period power play was the highlight-reel stop of the night . . . Selected as the second and third stars were Myskiw and Johnson . . . Sunday's contest in Edmonton starts at 4 p.m. . . . The Rebels trail the Oil Kings by a single point for top spot in the Central Division and have played four fewer games than their provincial rivals.

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Western Hockey League Stories from December 30, 2018


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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