Ice rally to beat Wheat Kings 4-3 again

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This article was published 16/12/2022 (693 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Brandon Wheat Kings blew a 3-2 lead late in the third period against the Winnipeg Ice for the third time this season as Owen Pederson scored his second goal of the game in overtime for a 4-3 victory in Western Hockey League action at Wayne Fleming Arena on Saturday.

In the final game before the Christmas break for both teams, Brett Hyland scored twice for Brandon (12-16-4-0) and Luke Shipley added a goal, with Zach Benson also sniping twice for Winnipeg (26-4-0-0) in front of an announced crowd of 1,621.

Brandon head coach and general manager Marty Murray said it was a tough loss on a night his team showed some good things.

“It wasn’t a pretty first period and then I thought we found our groove a little bit,” Murray said. “We made it 3-2 and hung on until there were four minutes left in the third. It would have been nice to hang on and win either in regulation preferably or at least get the two points in overtime.

“All in all, it was a decent effort. It’s not an easy barn to come in and get a point so we’ll take it and move forward.”

Winnipeg swarmed for a goal in the early going, but it took 16 minutes and 12 seconds for the Ice to finally score.

After Winnipeg hit a post, the puck bounced high into the slot. Ben Zloty sent the puck across the ice to Ty Nash, who made a bank pass off the back boards to Benson on the back door, and the 17-year-old forward had an empty net behind Brandon goalie Nick Jones to score his 19th goal of the season.

Winnipeg had all the best chances in the opening 20 minutes, outshooting Brandon 12-6.

The Wheat Kings took back-to-back penalties in the second period, and Winnipeg made them pay on the second one when Pederson fired a shot over the glove of Jones off the rush.

But Pederson took a penalty after the goal, sending Brandon to the power play, and Hyland extended his goal-scoring streak to seven games when he sniped 20 seconds into the man advantage.

Just 29 seconds later, Shipley fired a shot past Winnipeg goalie Daniel Hauser to even it at 2-2 despite Brandon being outshot 19-9.

“It was a big power-play goal that got us going and we talk all the time about our response after a goal for or against,” Murray said. “The (Roger) McQueen line went out there and got another big goal and got the momentum rolling a little bit. We’ve talked about secondary scoring so it was nice to see them get on the board too.”

Brandon hit the post on a three-on-one after killing their third penalty of the period, and Hauser denied McQueen on a breakaway as the Wheat Kings pushed back.

Sixty-two seconds into the third period, Calder Anderson found Hyland in the slot and the 19-year-old forward fired home his second goal of the game to give the visitors their first lead.

It was the third time Brandon has led Winnipeg 3-2 in the third period, with the two previous games ending in 4-3 Ice victories on Sept. 24 and Oct. 29. The winning goal in the home opener also came in overtime.

Winnipeg tied it with 4:30 remaining in regulation when an ugly bounce at the blue-line left the puck on the stick of Benson, who wired it into the top corner to make it 3-3.

Jones made a terrific save on a Matt Savoie breakaway seconds into overtime, but less than two minutes later, Pederson stripped a Wheat King of the puck at the blue-line, and as Anderson tried to catch him, the Wheat Kings forward slid into Jones and the puck ended up in the net for the winning goal.

Jones made 32 saves for the Wheat Kings, with Hauser stopping 16 shots for the Ice. Brandon went 1-for-3 on the power play, with Winnipeg scoring once in five chances.

After the Christmas break, Brandon practises on Boxing Day evening, and then visits the Regina Pats on Dec. 28 and the Moose Jaw Warriors on Dec. 30. Their next home game is on Dec. 31 at 5 p.m., when Moose Jaw comes to Westoba Place.

Murray said his message to his players as they scattered across Western Canada was simple.

“Go home and enjoy your friends and family and enjoy the break,” Murray said. “Take some time and get ready to have a good second half. We’ve done some good things here of late and hopefully we can keep’er going.

“The second half isn’t any easier but I think the guys are excited. It’s a good time to get away and have a little break and hopefully the guys come back rejuvenated.”

ICINGS: Brandon skated without injured defenceman Charlie Elick, and a pair of injured forwards, Ben Thornton and Caleb Hadland. The healthy scratch was Eastyn Mannix … Nate Danielson led the Wheat Kings with three shots on net … The game took two hours, 31 minutes to play … In the faceoff circle, Winnipeg won 37-29.

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