Rebels suffer power outage in home loss to Blades
Blades 2 Rebels 1
One goal Friday and one goal Saturday added up to two weekend defeats for the Red Deer Rebels.
One night after falling 4-1 in Lethbridge, the Rebels managed just a single goal in a 2-1 WHL loss to the Saskatoon Blades Saturday before 4,516 fans at the Peavey Mart Centrium.
The Rebels had more than their share of scoring opportunities but were up against a hot goalie in Austin Elliott, who made 26 saves and was Saskatoon’s best player.
Jhett Larson notched Red Deer’s lone goal, a power play marker that drew them even at 12:57 of the first period. Larson beat Elliott from the high slot after accepting a corner pass from captain Kai Uchacz.
But that was it for the hosts, who have averaged just under three goals per game in nine outings to date.
“Seems to be the Achilles heel right now. We just can’t find a way to bury (our chances),” said Rebels head coach Derek Walser.
“Some of the shots are from the guys we want to get them through. We’re taking the right steps in the right process, but we just have to find a way to get more goals.”
Easton Armstrong, stationed just outside the Red Deer crease, gave the visitors an early lead with a power play tally 5:57 into the contest, converting a feed from Trevor Wong.
Larson pulled the Rebels even seven minutes later and his team carried the play through much of the remainder of the opening period.
The Rebels outshot their guests 13-10 in the middle frame but the Blades got the only goal as Egor Sidorov found the far side of the net from the left circle after taking a rink-wide pass from Wong.
The goal stood up as the winner despite the Rebels having a handful of prime scoring chances the rest of the way.
“The guys competed hard. We’ve had a long week, a lot of games and a lot of travel,” said Walser. “I thought the guys played pretty well, we just couldn’t find a way to get the next goal.”
Uchacz, who sniped 50 goals last season but has been limited to four this fall, echoed his coach’s sentiments.
“I thought we were around the net. We had our chances, we just couldn’t capitalize,” he said.
“We have to get to the net maybe more, get in the (goalies’) eyes and get to loose pucks in front . . . just find a way to get them (shots) up.”
On the other hand . . .
“I thought we played a pretty solid game,” said the captain, who was absolutely stoned by Elliott in the final period. “We were good in the D zone, the neutral zone, we just had to capitalize.
“We had one little hiccup in the D zone that led to their second goal, but other than that I thought it was a pretty solid game.”
The Rebels pulled netminder Rhett Stoesser with 2:25 remaining in the game but had trouble getting set up in the Saskatoon end with the extra man.
Red Deer’s fate was pretty much sealed when Larson was assessed a slashing penalty with 52 seconds remaining, a 10-minute misconduct added to his sentence. Larson cut down Wong, who was about to score into the empty net.
Notable: Stoesser was no slouch in the Rebels net, turning aside 21 shots while looking calm and collected . . . The Rebels, adorned in their new alternate jerseys featuring the popular bull skull logo, were one-for-two on the power play, the Blades one-for-three . . . The three stars: (1) Blades defenceman Tanner Molendyk, (2) Rebels forward Ollie Josephson and (3) Wong. Molendyk and Wong each recorded two assists . . . Red Deer fell to 4-4-0-1 while Saskatoon improved to 7-2-0-0 . . . The Rebels will host the 5-1-0-0 defending WHL champion Seattle Thunderbirds Tuesday and will welcome the 7-1-0-0 Portland Winterhawks (top-ranked team in the CHL) town Friday before visiting the Calgary Hitmen the following night . . . Red Deer will embark on a five-game excursion through the BC Division the following week, with their first stop Nov. 3 in Kamloops.
