Hurricanes Edge Wheat Kings 3-1 for 3-0 Series Lead
Virden, MB – The Lethbridge Hurricanes earned a 3-1 victory in Game 3 on Tuesday to take a 3-0 series stranglehold on the Brandon Wheat Kings in their first-round playoff series.
It marked the first time that the Wheat Kings hosted a post-season game in the Town of Virden after being vacated from their arena due to an annual spring fair at Westoba Place. Lethbridge had a great start to Game 3 as they struck just 1:56 into the game when Carsen Adair wired home his second goal of the post-season to make it 1-0 for the Hurricanes; Vojtech Port and Miguel Marques picked up the assists on the goal. The ‘Canes struck again just under seven-minutes later when Leo Braillard scored a beautiful goal stickhandling his way through the Wheat Kings defence before slipping a shot through the legs of Carson Bjarnason to make it 2-0; Marques and Noah Chadwick earned the assists on the goal. Brandon came close to getting on the board in the final five-minutes when Carter Klippenstein centered a pass to Dominik Petr who ripped a shot on goal, but Jackson Unger made a terrific pad save to keep it a two-goal Lethbridge lead after one period of play. Shots favoured the Hurricanes 12-10 in the opening period.
Brandon had a strong second period as they chipped into the Lethbridge lead with an early power play goal by Nolan Flamand at the 6:35 mark as he wired a shot over the blocker of Unger to make it a 2-1 game with his second goal of the series; Quinn Mantei and Jordan Gavin earned the assists on the goal. The Wheat Kings continued to press in the second period as they outshot the Hurricanes 10-6 in the middle frame but couldn’t solve Unger who made multiple key saves to preserve the 2-1 lead after forty minutes of play.
In the third period, Unger was even better as he stood on his head stopping all 18 shots in the period as Brandon tripled Lethbridge in shots outshooting them 18-6 in the final twenty minutes. The Wheat Kings came close to tying the game when Marcus Nguyen rattled a shot wide of the net the bounced off the end boards and off the back of the ‘Canes netminder before hitting his skate blade and rolled wide of the goal post. Brandon continued to press and Flamand was found alone in the slot before ripping a shot off the goal post with seven-minutes left in the game. Brandon kept their foot on the gas and pulled Bjarnason for the extra attacker, but the Hurricanes would find an insurance marker when Marques slipped home his second goal of the playoffs – and third point of the night – to make it a 3-1 Lethbridge lead; Logan McCutcheon earned the lone assist on the goal. The Wheat Kings pulled the goaltender again, but was unable to chip into the lead as the ‘Canes hung on for a 3-1 Game 3 victory.
The Hurricanes were outshot 38-24 in the game by the Wheat Kings. Lethbridge went 0/3 on the power play while Brandon went 1/3 with the extra man.
Three stars of the game were:
1) ‘Canes – #35 Jackson Unger (37-saves)
2) ‘Canes – #14 Miguel Marques (1 goal, 2 assists)
3) Wheat Kings – #91 Nolan Flamand (1 goal)
The win for the Hurricanes extends their series lead to 3-0 after the first three games. Lethbridge improved to 18-23 all-time in Game 3’s while improving to 2-3 all-time against Brandon in Game 3’s. It marks the first time the ‘Canes have held a 3-0 series lead since the first-round of the 2018 WHL Playoffs when they lead the Red Deer Rebels three games to none.
The Hurricanes will visit the Wheat Kings in Games 4 in Virden on Wednesday at 6:00pm MT at Tundra Oil & Gas Place. The game can be watched on Velocity+, listened on 106.7 ROCK or viewed at Browns Socialhouse in Lethbridge.
