It turned out to be a little scarier than they’d have liked after taking a 5-2 lead in the third, but the Brandon Wheat Kings are coming out of opening night with a win.
Ilari Kapanen scored twice and added two assists, and Chase Surkan, Colin Grubb, and Prabh Bhathal also scored as the Wheat Kings beat the Saskatoon Blades 5-4. Ryley Budd stopped 42 shots in the win.
“The first two periods were just ok,” said Wheat Kings head coach and GM Marty Murray. “We were hoping to have a good push in the third, we had limited o-zone time and there were a lot of one and done’s in the first two periods. The third period wasn’t good. We gave up over 20 shots and Ryley had to make some big saves for us. We’ve got to get some summer habits out of our game, but at the end of the day we start the season 1-0. We’ll take it.”
Just over a minute into the first period, the Wheat Kings opened the scoring. Kapanen spotted Kris Muissu up ice and sent him in on a two-on-one with Surkan. Muissu’s shot produced a rebound, and Surkan buried it for the first goal of a new season.
The Blades had their answer just after the midway mark of the first period. Brayden Klimpke grabbed the puck at centre and did the rest himself, breaking up the left wing, driving the net, and finishing on the backhand.
After killing a Blades’ power play, the Wheat Kings struck back. Grubb broke the puck in himself and unleashed a sneaky wrist shot from the middle of the high slot that beat Max Hartel to restore the Wheat Kings’ lead.
Late in the first, the Wheat Kings built on their lead. Brady Turko won a battle at the left circle and sent the puck back to Josh McGregor. The veteran defenseman went point-to-point for Kapanen, who faked a one-timer and then snapped home his first WHL goal through traffic.
Despite multiple power plays for the Blades and one for the Wheat Kings, the only goal of the second period came at even strength and it went the Wheat Kings way. After taking a handoff from Brett Wilson, Bhathal drove the high slot and fired a bullet of a shot past Hartel to stretch the lead to 4-1.
Early in the third, the Blades finally broke through on their power play. Cooper Williams spun and fired and had his shot bounce off the screening Hunter Laing and in.
The Wheat Kings got their reply. Taking another point-to-point pass, this one from Nigel Boehm, Kapanen showed great patience, walked to the top of the left circle, and popped the water bottle to make it 5-2.
As it turned out, that goal would end up being the game-winner thanks to some great special teams work by the Blades. First, Ben Bowtell broke in up the left wing with speed on the power play and snapped one high blocker to make it 5-3. Then, while shorthanded, Kazden Mathies broke in alone and opened up the five-hole to cut the lead to just one.
But as much as the Blades threw a scare into the Wheat Kings, that would turn out to be as close as they would come. The Wheat Kings shut them down from there and held on for the 5-4 win.
The Wheat Kings get the rest of the weekend off and wait until next Friday for another home game, in which they’ll host the Regina Pats. Puck drop will be 7:00.
