The Wheat Kings only won the one period against the Lethbridge Hurricanes in the season series closer, but it was the most important one of the bunch.
Luke Mistelbacher scored twice and Joby Baumuller, Cam Allard and Nicholas Johnson also scored as the Wheat Kings downed the Hurricanes 5-4. Filip Ruzicka stopped 25 shots for his 18th win.
“I thought we were pretty underwhelming, our first two periods were not really good,” said Wheat Kings head coach and GM Marty Murray. “We were better in the third but I told the guys we can’t come out of here any better than 1-0 and we are, which is good.”
The Hurricanes were awarded 1:29 of 5-on-3 in the first period, and struck twice on the two-man advantage. First, Owen Berge let a shot go through a screen from the high slot that found its way through. Then, Kai Anderson let a one-timer go from the bottom of the left circle that just managed to squeak past Ruzicka for the 2-0 lead.
At even strength, and with a bit of hard work and a bit of luck, the Wheat Kings cut the lead in half. Jaxon Jacobson worked off the goal line and backhanded the puck out front into Baumuller’s chest. Baumuller let it drop down to his feet and forced it over the goal line for his 31st.
Just under seven minutes into the second, the Wheat Kings erased the deficit entirely. Nigel Boehm sent the puck from the left point to Allard at the right, and Allard took the time and space that was offered to him, walking in and sniping the tying goal from the right circle.
By the end of the period, however, the Hurricanes had the lead back. Will Scott fired the puck out of the right corner to Gavin Lesiuk on the doorstep, but before it got to Lesiuk, it bounced off a Wheat King and in.
On their first power play of the game, the Wheat Kings tied the score again. A one-timer by Brady Turko produced a rebound, and Johnson was right on the doorstep to lift it home.
Just as a four-on-four situation expired, Ethan Young, in his first WHL game, helped get the Wheat Kings their first lead. He battled for a loose puck, knocked it away from Hurricane, and fed it to Mistelbacher in the clear. The veteran sniper made no mistake for his 23rd of the season.
When the Hurricanes pulled their goaltender, Mistelbacher got his 24th. Jacobson cut off a dump-in and lifted it to centre, and Mistelbacher won the race to the puck, potting his second of the third period.
As it turned out, it was a good thing for the Wheat Kings they got the breathing room. With 31.1 seconds left, the Hurricanes broke in three wide and fed the puck to the slot for Cohen Pentny. He scored his first WHL goal to bite into the lead.
The Wheat Kings survived the scare, however, and took the 5-4 win. They now head south of the border to Everett to face the Silvertips on Friday night at 7:05 local time.
