Late in the third period, it seemed like the Wheat Kings had another win in their grasp against the Swift Current Broncos. Suddenly, however, it slipped away from them.
Carter Klippenstein, Roger McQueen, and Caleb Hadland scored, and Ethan Eskit made 22 saves, but the Wheat Kings fell 4-3 in a shootout against Swift Current.
“They had nine power plays so we spent almost a period in the penalty box,” said head coach and GM Marty Murray. “We’re up a goal with a minute and a half left and I just watched the third goal, the tying one, we have five guys going to the puck carrier in the corner. It was a brain cramp or whatever, hard to watch live and even harder to watch on replay.”
It took until there were just 34.9 seconds left in the first period, but the Wheat Kings did open the scoring. Matteo Michels had his shot off the rush stopped, but Klippenstein drove the net and got a couple of whacks at the rebound, stuffing home the second of them for his first of the season.
A pretty passing play gave the Wheat Kings a two-goal lead midway through the second. Dominik Petr fed the puck over the line to Marcus Nguyen, who saucered a perfect pass to the tape of an onrushing McQueen to make it 2-0.
Another perfect pass gave the Broncos some life, however. Grayson Burzynski sprung Rylan Gould on a breakaway with a stretch pass, and he made no mistake to cut the lead in half.
In the third, the Wheat Kings stretched their lead to two again, as Jacobson spotted Hadland in the slot off the rush. Hadland leaned into a one-timer to make it 3-1.
A questionable call put the Wheat Kings down 5-on-4, and unfortunately there was no question about the next call that put them down 5-on-3. Late in that 5-on-3, Luke Mistelbacher snapped one home from the slot.
The Broncos never had to pull the goaltender to tie the game. Burzynski took a pass as he was left alone in front and wired the tying goal over Eskit’s shoulder.
Overtime, despite high-flying action, solved nothing. The shootout went into extra rounds just as the game went into extra time, but the fourth shooter for the Broncos, Ty Coupland, made good on a slick backhand move for the game winner.
The Wheat Kings get a couple of days to rest before welcoming the Everrett Silvertips on Tuesday night. Puck drop is 7:00.
