Rebels edged in shootout loss to Blazers
Blazers 4 Rebels 3 (SO)
KAMLOOPS — Already short two key players due to injuries, the Red Deer Rebels made life even harder on themselves Friday night at the Sandman Centre.
The Rebels spent about half the second period short-handed due a pair of minor infractions and a major penalty — and game misconduct — to top-six forward Carson Latimer adding up to nine minutes.
And while the Kamloops Blazers were a mere one-for-seven on the power play, all that time playing four-on-five exhausted the visitors, who eventually dropped a 4-3 shootout decision before a crowd of 4,596.
“Those are hard minutes on everybody,” said Rebels head coach Derrick Walser. “You’re counting on your killers and sometimes your best players, guys who do a lot of double duty.
“It takes a lot of gas.”
Down 3-2 after two periods, the Blazers got a tying goal from Dylan Sydor at 12:03 of the third period. The overage forward won a puck battle along the boards, worked his way to the front of the net and beat netminder Chase Wutzke.
The Rebels dominated puck possession in three-on-three overtime before Kamloops sent their fans home happy, emerging victorious from a lengthy nine-round shootout.
The Blazers struck first with a goal from Harrison Brunicke just past the midway point of the opening period. Wutzke made a great pad save on Conner Levis but Brunicke drained the rebound.
Kai Uchacz took over from there, drawing the Rebels even less than two minutes later, then scoring shorthanded early in the second period for a 2-1 Red Deer lead.
Uchacz broke in alone after creating a turnover on each occasion, out-battling Matteo Koci for a bouncing puck on his first goal and then victimizing Nathan Behm on the second marker, his ninth of the season.
Ashton Ferster pulled the Blazers even two minutes into the five-minute power play, tipping Logan Barrios’ point shot by Wutzke, but Samuel Drancak restored Red Deer’s lead late in the period on a redirect of a Quentin Bourne wrister from the blueline.
“You spend that much time (shorthanded) you expect to give up something,” Walser said of Ferster’s goal.
Wutzke, who was sharp in defeat, surrendered three goals in the shootout, including the winner by Max Sullivan. Jhett Larson and Frantisek Formanek were the only Red Deer shooters to direct shootout pucks past Blazers netminder Dylan Ernst.
Wutzke finished with 32 saves in regulation and overtime, three more than Ernst.
Walser was impressed with his goaltender, his penalty killers and his club’s overall work ethic.
“I thought the compete, the drive and the effort were good and they were bang on with the small details today,” he said.
“The penalty kill was good. I thought the guys were excellent on the PK, Wutzke was excellent and the compete level was very high.”
The Rebels continue their five-game trip through the BC Division with a Saturday engagement with the Kelowna Rockets (8 p.m. MT on 106.7 REWIND Radio and CHL TV).
“Now we just have to take the point, reset and do the job tomorrow,” said Walser.
Notable: Red Deer was zero-for-three on the power play . . . Rebels forward Talon Brigley and defenceman Nick Andrusiak returned from injuries Friday, but top-four defenceman Hunter Mayo and top-six forward Kalan Lind are still out, both listed as day-to-day. Rookie forward Jeramiah Roberts is also sidelined with an upper body injury, listed as week-to-week . . . The three stars: (1) Sydor, (2) Uchacz and (3) Blazers forward and captain Fraser Minten, just back from starting the season with the Toronto Maple Leafs . . . Following Saturday’s outing, the Rebels will conclude the trip with three games in four nights — Tuesday and Wednesday versus the Victoria Royals and Vancouver Giants and Friday against the Cougars in Prince George.
(Photos by Allen Douglas)
