Emotions will be high between the Brandon Wheat Kings and Prince Albert Raiders at the best of times, but in their final meeting of the season, emotions reached a fever pitch.
Jaxon Jacobson scored the game winning goal, and Luke Mistelbacher, Nicholas Johnson, and Gunnar Gleasman also scored as the Wheat Kings beat the Raiders 4-3. Jayden Kraus turned in another strong performance with 32 saves.
“One of the things we talked about in video this week was closing games out in the third period and how we have to play,” said Wheat Kings head coach and GM Marty Murray. “We were a little shaky at the start of the third period when we gave up one, but there was still a lot of time left when they made it 4-3 and we closed it out decently well. There are still steps we could make here, but cudos to the guys, it was a gritty effort against a pretty good team.”
Just a minute into the first period, the Wheat Kings opened up an early lead. Prabh Bhathal handed the puck off to Jacobson, who fed it out front to Mistelbacher. Though he was stopped on his first try, the veteran sniper batted the rebound out of mid-air and in.
Off the rush, the Raiders would find the equalizer. They worked the puck to the slot for Jonah Sivertson on a 3-on-2, and the former Regina Pat Canadian fired one home.
The Raiders would take the lead on their first power play of the game. Kraus made a strong first stop on Riley Boychuck’s first shot, and appeared to make a second, but after review the puck was determined to have crossed the line.
Controversy mired the end of the first period. The Wheat Kings thought they had tied the game when Cameron Allard took a feed from Jacobson from the left wing corner, walked in from the point and ripped it past Steele Bass. But as Jacobson took a crosscheck in the face, the referee blew the whistle right before Allard shot the puck. The goal did not count and though the Wheat Kings got a power play out of the ensuing scrum, they were turned away on their three shots.
But early in the second, after drawing a penalty, the Wheat Kings tied the score with no doubt. Johnson curled off the boards at the bottom of the right circle and, after considering a pass option, simply snapped one low and hard past Bass for the equalizer.
Just 39 seconds later, the Wheat Kings took the lead again. Brett Wilson broke in up the left wing and waited for Gleasman to drive the net, firing a pass to him right at the top of the crease, which Gleasman swatted home for his fifth of the season.
The game took a scary turn midway through the second. During a fight with Matyas Man, Joby Baumuller was forcibly slammed to the ice. Man was assessed a minor for roughing, a minor for unsportsmanlike conduct, and a game misconduct, but Baumuller had to leave the ice on a stretcher.
Though the Wheat Kings did not score on the four-minute power play they got for Man’s penalties, they did make a later power play click. Jordan Gavin took the puck at the left circle and fed it through the seam to Jacobson, who buried his 19th to stretch the lead to two.
Just over two minutes into the third, the Raiders bit into the lead. Sivertson threw the puck out front to Linden Burrett, who tipped it home.
But that, despite a furious push by the Raiders and two breakaways by the Wheat Kings, was the end of the scoring. The Wheat Kings held the Raiders to the outside from there and took their first victory of the season over Prince Albert.
The Wheat Kings can savour their victory for all of one evening before going on the road to face the Swift Current Broncos. Puck drop tomorrow is 7:00.
