Rebels battle hard but drop wild Game Three at home
By DANNY RODE
Taylor Tabashniuk’s WHL debut came under some of the toughest possible circumstances.
With both Chase Wutzke and Rhett Stoesser down with injuries, the 17-year-old goaltender from Regina was called on to start for the Red Deer Rebels in their third game of the Eastern Conference Semifinal against the Saskatoon Blades before 4,411 fans at the Peavey Mart Centrium Tuesday.
Tabashniuk won’t be satisfied with the final outcome – an 8-5 win for the Blades who took a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven series – yet he can’t be overly disappointed either.
Stoesser was injured last week in practice while Wutzke was feeling the effects of a full-on hit he took in the third period of game two from Blades forward Easton Armstrong, who was suspended for the hit with the length of the banishment still to be determined by the WHL.
“I thought he handled himself well,” Rebels head coach Dave Struch said of Tabashniuk. “At no point did I think of pulling him. I thought he made some big saves for us once he settled in.”
In fact, Tabashniuk made two of the best saves of the game. He stretched his right leg back to rob what appeared to be a sure goal in the second period, then made the save of the game in the third, with a spectacular stop on a redirect by Toronto Maple Leafs prospect Fraser Minten.
“He was playing against a good team with good offensive players, and he hung in there. I did think we could have done a better job for him at points in the game, but I also thought we played really hard tonight.”
It was the most entertaining game of the series as the Rebels refused to die.
The Blades grabbed a 3-1 lead by the 7:51 mark of the first period on goals by Olds native Charlie Wright, Rowan Calvert and Egor Sidorov.
But the Rebels, who got a goal from Carson Latimer just 14 seconds after Wright opened the scoring, made it 3-2 heading into the first period break when Carson Birnie zipped home a shorthanded tally at 11:36 past Blades rookie netminder Evan Gardner.
Quinton Bourne then tied the game 3-3 with his first ever WHL goal at 2:16 of the second period after Dwayne Jean Jr. carried the puck into the Saskatoon zone and slipped it to Bourne in the slot. His quick shot deflected off a defender and high over a startled Gardner.
But the Rebels had a couple defensive lapses and Trevor Wong stole the puck in the slot to beat Tabashniuk high to the stick side before Sidorov got his second of three when he was allowed to walk into the slot.
“I thought our defence was pretty good, they gave Tabby a good chance to see some pucks, but we did have some breakdowns but that comes when you have young guys on the ice against a good team,” said Struch. “For the most part those experiences will be good for this group.”
Once again, the Rebels battled back with Kalan Lind beating Gardner on a wrap-around at 15:02. That spelled the end for Gardner who gave way for veteran Austin Elliott.
Sidorov gave the Blades their two-goal lead back at 18:35 of the middle frame.
The third period started with Brandon Lisowsky scoring a power play marker on a one-timer at 6:27.
The Blades then went on a five-minute power play at 9:18 when Frantisek Formanek was assessed a major for spearing and a game misconduct.
But it would be Rebels forward Talon Brigley scoring the goal of the game while shorthanded as he grabbed a loose puck in front of his net, took it coast-to-coast before spinning a 360 around Blades rearguard Tanner Molendyk and putting a shot past Elliott.
Lukas Hansen put the final touches on the victory for the Blades with an empty net marker at 18:40.
Struch can look back at the five goals his team scored with satisfaction.
“That (the offence) was the biggest thing we got into our game tonight,” he said. “The last couple games we didn’t have those opportunities. We were in search of second and third chances and we did a good job of that tonight. We talked a lot about playing inside and we worked hard there tonight. We had the intensity, moved our feet and did a good job getting to loose pucks and creating offence.”
The Rebels will need even more of that Wednesday in Game 4 at 7 p.m. at the Peavey Mart Centrium as they battle to extend their season.
“We need a lot more of the ‘not give up’ like we did tonight. We didn’t quit … we’ll just need to come out and leave it all on the ice.”
ICE CHIPS – Gardner finished with 16 saves for the Blades, as did Elliott … Tabashniuk made 31 saves … 15-year-old Peyton Shore of the RINK Hockey Academy in Winnipeg, who the Rebels drafted in the 2023 WHL Prospects Draft, was the backup netminder … Shore helped Team Manitoba win the WHL Cup in Red Deer last October … He posted a 2.48 goals-against-average and a .932 save percentage, playing for the RINK U17 team … Sidorov, who has signed with the Anaheim Ducks, was first star with Wong, who had a goal and three assists, was second star and Brigley, who was plus two, third star … Blades were one-for-four on the power play although they gave up two shorthanded markers, while Red Deer failed on two power play attempts … If a fifth game is necessary, it goes Friday in Saskatoon with possibly a sixth Sunday in Red Deer and Game 7 Tuesday in Saskatoon … In the other Eastern Conference Semifinal on Tuesday, Moose Jaw took a 2-1 series lead with a 5-3 victory in Swift Current … Prince George is up 3-0 on Kelowna with a 4-3 win … Portland is also up 3-0 on Everett after winning 4-3 Monday.