Through two periods, the Wheat City Walleye and Lake Diefenbaker Slough Sharks hadn’t generated very many shots or chances compared to what both teams mustered in the third. In the third, it was the Walleye who had the better of the scoring.
Luke Mistelbacher scored a goal and added two assists, and Jordan Gavin, Jaxon Jacobson, Chase Surkan, and Brady Turko all scored as well as the Walleye earned a 5-3 win over the Slough Sharks. Filip Ruzicka held up his end of the bargain once again with 27 saves on 30 shots.
“I wish in the first two periods we’d gotten more pucks to the net,” said Walleye head coach and GM Marty Murray. “I thought we’d had some zone time but they did a good job of keeping us to the outside and we had to find a way to get inside and get some pucks to the net. We did a much better job of that in the third period.”
A shoot-first mentality paid off for the Slough Sharks in the first period as they opened the scoring. They fired the puck on net from the left point, and Hudson Darby, between the shot and the net, got a high tip on it to redirect it in.
It took most of the first period, but the Walleye got their answer. Luke Mistelbacher dangled past two backcheckers and sent a pass out front to Gavin who snuck it through the five-hole of Aiden Eskit and in.
After two unsuccessful power plays in the first, the Walleye took the lead on a man advantage in the second. Jacobson sent the puck down low to Mistelbacher, who quickly pivoted his way off the goal line and lifted it over Eskit’s shoulder for his 40th of the season.
With the Walleye already down a man on a questionable charging call, another penalty left them down 5-on-3. With just two seconds to go in the 5-on-3, Trae Wilke picked a corner and tied the game.
If the Walleye were stunned by the goal, however, there was no sign of it in their response. Just over a minute later, Mistelbacher sent Prabh Bhathal and Jacobson in on a 2-on-1. Bhathal put it right on Jacobson’s tape, and he put it straight to the top corner.
Another minute passed and the Walleye expanded their lead. Nigel Boehm rushed the puck up ice and found Brett Wilson, who sent the puck back to the front of the net. A rebound popped free, and Surkan was there to bury it for his 19th.
The goal scoring parade of the third period continued, this time with the Slough Sharks getting back within one. A dump up ice turned into a perfect pass when Parker Rondeau went streaking after it, caught up to it, and finished it off on the forehand.
But the Walleye responded again. Daniil Skvortsov took a shot from the left point with traffic in front, and Turko, setting the screen, got a stick on the shot to tip it in for the 5-3 lead.
Once the Slough Sharks pulled their goaltender for the extra man, the Walleye largely locked things down. Ruzicka made one final save to keep the two-goal lead and secure his 24th win of the season.
The win gives the Walleye the weekend sweep of the Slough Sharks and their first ever win in the Fishing Derby. They hit the road for a long run of games, starting in Calgary on Wednesday, March 11 at 7:00 Mountain Time.
