Road weary they may have been, but the Brandon Wheat Kings found a way to get it done against the Kamloops Blazers, getting stellar goaltending for the second night in a row and giving their netminder some more run support.
Joby Baumuller scored twice and added an assist, and Kris Muissu scored what proved to be the game-winning goal as the Wheat Kings downed the Kamloops Blazers 3-1. Ryley Budd turned in a star-worthy performance with 29 saves on 30 shots.
“That’s a grind,” said Wheat Kings head coach and GM Marty Murray. “We got in about three o’clock in the morning last night and they were sitting here waiting for us. These games are tough, there’s a lot of adversity, and I thought our guys handled it relatively well.”
In a case of deja vu, the two goaltenders were unbeaten through 20 minutes despite chances each way and a power play opportunity for both teams. Budd made a fantastic blocker save off the rush at one end, only for Kaeden Tate to equal him with a cross-crease left skate save at the other.
Though the Blazers built momentum in the early part of the second, a double-minor power play allowed the Wheat Kings to wrestle it out of their grip. Jaxon Jacobson spun the puck from the right point to the left for Baumuller, who one-timed home his second goal of the season.
With the second half of the double-minor in effect, Baumuller switched from sniper to set-up man. Breaking in up the right wing, he sent the puck back out front to Muissu as he charged the net, and the big Russian winger lifted home third of the season.
Baumuller kept the points coming at even strength. After stepping into the faceoff circle, he won the puck cleanly back to Cruz Jim and then tipped Jim’s point shot past Tate to make it 3-0.
A suspect five-minute major gave Kamloops a long power play to end the game and on it they finally broke through. A long range shot produced a rebound and Andrew Thomson jumped on it to spoil Budd’s shutout.
That proved to be the final goal of the game, however, as the Wheat Kings outlasted a 6-on-4 advantage and took the 3-1 win to move to 3-1-0 on their six-game road trip. Their next stop takes them to Penticton, where they’ll meet the Vees in their building for the first time in team history.
