Rebels lose special teams battle to Tigers

Tigers 6 Rebels 3
The Medicine Hat Tigers entered Friday’s WHL game at the Centrium with their power play operating at a blistering 40.9 per cent success rate.
When their bus pulled away their man-advantage success percentage was an even more impressive 44.8.
The Tigers won the battle of the special teams hands down, going four-for seven on the power play and seven-for-seven on the penalty kill.
The visitors notched four unanswered third-period goals — with three coming on, yes, the power play — en route to a 6-3 win over the Red Deer Rebels in front of 4,329 fans.
The Rebels led 3-2 after two periods but it all fell apart for the hosts when forwards Michael Spacek and Brandon Hagel were assessed hooking and cross-checking penalties 38 seconds apart early in the final frame.
Chad Butcher promptly pulled the Tigers even with the Rebels two men short and defenceman David Quenneville scored his second of three goals on the evening before the second infraction expired with a one-timer from the faceoff circle.
“Certainly specialty teams played a big part (in the outcome) but undisciplined hockey too is more what bothers me,” said Rebels GM/head coach Brent Sutter.
“You look at the third period, you’re up a goal going into the third . . . just stick with your game and do things right. We took three penalties down below their goal line, basically 200 feet from our net and one was a very selfish penalty by taking it after the whistle.
“What’s scary about it is it’s our leadership group. That’s what bothered me about the third period. I didn’t think we had that push at all. We got down after they got those two quick goals and didn’t have anybody grab it and pick us up.”
Hagel was called for high sticking at 14:04 of the final frame and Quenneville completed his hat trick just three seconds later with a slapshot from just inside the blueline.
The Rebels pulled netminder Riley Lamb with 2:55 remaining following a penalty call on Medicine Hat forward Matt Bradley, but never mounted any semblance of an attack. With Lamb back in, Mason Shaw notched the game’s final marker at 19:48.
“You can’t play like that,” said Sutter. “What bothers a coach is when you just don’t play smart and just don’t do what you need to do.
“A recipe to lose games is undisciplined hockey and bad specialty teams. Our power play hasn’t been very good and our PK hasn’t been very good. Sum it all up and that’s why you lose a game like tonight’s.”
Five-on-five, the Rebels were the superior team, at least through the first two periods.
Red Deer held a 19-9 advantage in shots in the opening frame and were up 31-21 on the shot clock after 40 minutes.
Quenneville opened the scoring 13:07 into the contest with Red Deer rookie forward Akash Bains serving a delay of game penalty, bolting in from the point and depositing a loose puck in the crease.
Michael Spacek notched his first of two goals for the Rebels late in the period, picking up the puck in the low slot and stepping around Tigers netminder Nick Schneider.
Spacek tallied again early in the middle stanza, his shot from 40 feet out glancing off Schneider’s glove and in, but Mark Rassell beat Lamb through the five-hole on a breakaway just over six minutes later.
Evan Polei restored the Rebels lead at 12:27 with a redirect of a point shot by Colton Bobyk, but that was it for the home side.
“We played pretty solid for two periods but in the third period specialty teams were the difference,” said Rebels captain Adam Musil, who assisted on Polei’s goal while playing in his 200th WHL game.
“We took some bad penalties, but at the same time we had some chances to score on the power play and we didn’t do that. Our leaders have to lead and we didn’t do that in the third period.”
Schneider was stellar for the visitors and finished with 37 saves. Lamb turned aside 28 shots — including a breakaway save on Butcher — and was hung out to dry on too many occasions.
The Rebels’ power play was ranked 14th in the league entering the contest, while their penalty kill was 17th.
Sutter offered an explanation as to why his team has been unable to excel with a man advantage.
“I don’t think we work hard enough on it and I don’t think we shoot the puck enough,” he said. “We work on things in practice and try to implement things, but when we get into games for whatever reason we get away from it.
“To be able to get into the offensive zone you have to have an attack plan. You can’t have guys just go out there and freelance and just do what they want to do because it throws other guys off on the power play.
“We certainly have to work on it. It’s early in the season still but you can’t be (ranked in the lower half of the league) on the power play and PK and think you should be a team that wins more than you lose.”
On a positive note, Sutter like Spacek’s game and also gave his linemates Grayson Pawlenchuk and Austin Pratt passing marks.
“Spacek and Pawlenchuk played well and Pratter has been decent up there with them,” said the Rebels boss. ‘That line tonight was definitely our best line.”
The Rebels have little time to fret over Friday’s outcome with the Kelowna Rockets visiting the Centrium Saturday.
“Tonight’s over with, we have to get ready for tomorrow,” said Sutter. “We have to regroup and we have to regroup quickly.”