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WHL Brandon Wheat Kings

Wheat Kings Score 3 Unanswered to Beat Blades

April 5, 2021 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Brandon Wheat Kings News Release


Regina, SK - After outscoring their opponents 31-10 in their last five games, the Wheat Kings were forced to play a much tighter and low scoring game against the Blades on Sunday evening, eventually coming away with the 3-1 win in Regina's Brandt Centre. The victory ties the Wheat Kings with the Blades for first place in the East Division with 19 points apiece.

Saskatoon scored the lone goal in the first period at the 8:20 mark. With Brett Hyland in the penalty box for Brandon, Saskatoon's leading scorer Kyle Crnkovic fired a pass to the side of the Brandon net where former Wheat King, Caiden Daley was standing alone to tap it in for the Blades.

The start of the game was one to forget for the Wheat Kings.

"We didn't really like our first period, I think we didn't really accomplish anything that we wanted to accomplish," said MacGillivray. "Saskatoon played exactly the way we wanted to play in the first period. But credit to our guys, they came out and they played a really, really good second period and took over the game."

The scoring started for the Wheat Kings at the 9:08 mark of the second when Nolan Ritchie and Brett Hyland led the play into the Blades' zone. Lynden McCallum trailed half a step from his linemates giving him enough space between himself and the defence to rip a shot off and beat netminder Koen MacInnes top corner. The goal was McCallum's 10th of the season and extended his points streak to nine games.

The game winner was scored in the early stages of the third period when the play was near the boards on the right side of the Blades' zone. Ridly Greig had the puck and as two Blades approached him he zipped a pass along the ice to Ben McCartney who was near the hashmarks. McCartney collected the puck and shot a wrister under the arm of McInness giving the Wheat Kings their first lead of the game.

"We were in the o-zone for about 15 seconds there and the guys we were playing against were pretty tired, they were on a long shift," said McCartney. "And Rids kind of got it on the wall there and I snuck in and I really wasn't expecting a pass there, and Rids made a perfect wrist pass right on the tape and I found a way to get it on net - not saying I was aiming it - but I got it on net and yeah, good things happen".

The Wheat Kings' defence played solid in the final two periods giving netminder Ethan Kruger only 11 pucks to stop for the win. Kruger finished the game with 22 saves and the game's third star while the Blades' MacInnes finished with 29 saves and the game's second star.

Reid Perepeluk scored the empty net insurance marker with 8 seconds left in the game for his third goal of the season.

Sporting the strongest power play of any team in the East Division, the Wheat Kings entered Sunday's game scoring at a 32.1% clip with a man advantage. But they were up against the Blades' league-leading 90% penalty kill and were unable to capitalize on any of the four power plays they had on the evening.

"We had some chances, I think we needed to shoot the puck more," said MacGillivray. "That's the biggest thing. Saskatoon has a very good penalty kill, they're very aggressive. We had to make a couple adjustments on our break out and our entries to give us a chance to get in and get set up, which we did. We had some decent looks, but it's got to be more efficient".

The Wheat Kings have a quick turnaround as they face the Prince Albert Raiders on Monday evening at 9 PM. They last faced the injury-plagued Raiders on March 30th when they beat them in a 7-1 win.

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