Rebels falter in first period in 5-2 loss to Hurricanes
Hurricanes 5 Rebels 2
LETHBRIDGE — A strong third period could not atone for a so-so first 30 minutes.
As a result, the Red Deer Rebels came out on the short end of a 5-2 count in a WHL contest Friday against the Lethbridge Hurricanes.
The ‘Canes got three unanswered first-period goals from defencemen and never looked back.
Easton Kovacs notched his first-ever WHL goal 6:10 into the game. Hayden Smith’s pass from behind the net glanced off the stick of netminder Connor Ungar and directly to Kovacs, who buried short side.
Just over two minutes later Chase Pauls blew a shot past Ungar from just inside the blueline, and Logan McCutcheon made it 3-0 in the second half of the period, pinching in and converting a rink-wide feed from Justin Hall.
“Obviously not a good first period,” said Rebels head coach Steve Konowalchuk. “Just big mistakes on those goals.
“We had a couple good shifts and a couple of lines I thought were going, but just the mistakes . . . and then at some times we weren’t hard enough on pucks in that first period.”
Ben King, with his league leading 47th of the season, scored Red Deer’s lone goal in the latter half of the second period, coming off a quick release following a centering pass from Kalan Lind. Arshdeep Bains also assisted on the goal, keeping himself and King tied atop the league scoring race with 92 points apiece.
The Rebels picked up the pace as the middle frame progressed but still trailed by two entering the final period.
To their credit, they pretty much dominated the final 20 minutes — outshooting their hosts 20-6 — but couldn’t beat netminder Ben Thomson with the game still on the line.
Thomson robbed King twice, the second time making a highlight reel glove stab on the Rebels sniper. Thomson also made a stretch save on Jayden Grubbe to maintain the two goal lead.
Pauls, with his second of the game into an empty net with 64 seconds remaining, sealed the deal.
The scoring, though, wasn’t done. Grubbe made a nice move around a ‘Canes defender, went hard to the net and swooped the puck past Thomson at 19:08, and Yegor Klavdiev answered for the home side with 17 seconds left.
🎥HIGHLIGHT OF THE NIGHT🎥
The captain goes airborne!@Rebelshockey | @NYRangers | #WHLHoN pic.twitter.com/51t4FkLyv1
— The WHL (@TheWHL) March 19, 2022
“We can take some positives out of the second half of the game,” said Konowalchuk. “We started to get back to the way we need to play in the second and third periods. We made a little push to get back in it but their goalie made some big saves
“We just didn’t have the desperation we needed tonight and I guess we got what we deserved.”
The clubs meet again Saturday at the Peavey Mart Centrium.
“Our guys need to answer and get back to playing with the high compete level that we expect,” said the Rebels bench boss.
Notable: Thomson made 34 saves and was selected as the game’s first star, with McCutcheon and King named second and third stars. Ungar, who made a sparkling glove save on McCutcheon in the second period, turned aside 28 shots . . . Both teams were zero-for-three on the power play . . . Attendance at the Enmax Centre was 3,533.
