For the third game in a row, the Brandon Wheat Kings came into the third period needing to win a period to win a game, and for the third game in a row they delivered.
Joby Baumuller, Nicholas Johnson, and Carter Klippenstein scored and Dylan McFadyen stopped 23 of 24 shots thrown his way as the Wheat Kings downed the Regina Pats 3-1. Braxton Whitehead replied with the lone tally for the Pats.
“All three games we won here in the third, it’s a good sign to be able to close games out and come through when it really matters,” said Wheat Kings head coach and GM Marty Murray. “There are positives to take out of the last three games, for sure, and it was nice to wrap up the preseason with a win.”
Despite four combined power plays, neither team could break through in the first period until Baumuller got a stretch pass from Gio Pantelas. With a slick move to the backhand, Baumuller opened up the five-hole on Kelton Pyne and slipped home the opening tally.
The Wheat Kings had their chances with three power plays in the second period, but couldn’t break through, and the Pats made them pay for their failure to convert. On a late power play of their own, Cole Temple and Braxton Whitehead got a two-on-one and Whitehead tapped home the saucer pass to tie things up.
The deadlock lasted late into the third period, but with just under eight minutes to go in it, Johnson busted the game open. After Nolan Flamand poked it ahead to him, Johnson made no mistake with the little space that bought him and snapped home his second of the preseason.
Klippenstein turned the one-goal lead into two in the late stages of the third when he won a footrace on an awkwardly rolling puck and pulled in alone. Mimicking Baumuller’s move of earlier, Klippenstein snuck one through the five hole to salt the game away.
The win leaves the Wheat Kings a perfect 4-0 on the preseason. The home opener is next Friday, September 20, against the Moose Jaw Warriors.
