Tigers tie it late but Drancak wins Game 3 for Rebels in OT
By DANNY RODE
The Red Deer Rebels showed what they’re made of when it mattered the most.
The Rebels gave up a late goal in the third period, but battled back to down the Medicine Hat Tigers 4-3 in overtime before 4,040 fans at the Peavey Mart Centrium Tuesday.
Samuel Drancak’s power play goal at 6:31 of the first extra period gave the Rebels a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven WHL Eastern Conference Quarterfinal.
“It’s not the way we wanted it to go, but obviously there were a lot of momentum changes throughout the game,” said Rebels head coach Dave Struch.
“There was a lot of play in our zone, which we didn’t want to be part of, but give Medicine Hat credit they have a lot of skilled guys and they pushed the pace on us a lot. But we did respond at different points throughout the game and thankfully at the right time in overtime.”
Rebels forward Carson Latimer knew the late third-period goal wasn’t going to affect the Rebels in a negative manor.
“We had those (situations) go against us all year,” he said. “We’ve been through a lot so to face adversity was nothing new for us … we just had to go out and play our game and we were certainly happy with the result.”
It was the second overtime goal of the series for the Rebels, who lost twice to the Tigers in overtime during the regular season.
The Rebels earned the power play when Tigers forward Oasiz Wiesblatt was called for hooking at 6:17. Rebels took control of play off the faceoff and stormed netminder Zach Zahara. Jhett Larson looked as if he ended it when his tip went through Zahara’s legs, but it was cleared during a wild scramble only to see it bounce to Drancak in the low slot, who beat Zahara who was down and out.
“That was a huge goal for us … anytime you score in overtime the magnitude is crazy,” said Latimer. “It’s an exciting time for the group.”
Latimer played a huge role in the victory, scoring twice and on each occasion tying the game.
His first came with 0.4 seconds remaining in the first period as he took a feed from Derek Thurston on a two-on-one while shorthanded and ripped a shot high to the glove side on Zahara.
“I had no idea the time left,” said Latimer. “The guys said they were yelling, but I didn’t hear them. I was going to do the same thing regardless of the time … I lucked out for sure.”
Hayden Harsanyi gave the Tigers the lead at 9:48 of the first period on a rebound.
Wiesblatt put the Tigers up 2-1 at 6:12 of the second period when he was allowed to circle in the Red Deer zone, cut in off the right side and shovel a shot between Chase Wutzke’s legs.
Latimer blamed himself for the goal.
“I was beat off the wall so felt responsible and wanted to get one back, it felt good to do so so quickly,” he said.
Latimer connected on the power play at 6:59 of the middle stanza, taking a pass from behind the net from Kalan Lind and snapping a shot low to the stick side on Zahara.
Hunter Mayo gave the Rebels a 3-2 lead at 15:10 when his screened shot from the right point deflected in off Zahara’s blocker.
The Tigers looked as if they tied the game early in the third period, but Reid Andersen’s goal was disallowed because of incidental contact on Wutzke.
However, with Zahara on the bench, Andrew Basha moved the puck into the slot and beat Wutzke just under the bar on the glove side with 34.6 seconds remaining.
Both Struch and Latimer felt the Rebels solid start in the first period was a factor in the game.
“It was a good start, which was a bonus for us,” said Struch. “Still we need to be consistent for the whole 60 minutes. We need to shelf this one and concentrate on tomorrow.”
“Our start and not trailing after the first period was huge for us,” added Latimer. “We stuck around and grabbed the lead unfortunately we gave it up in the third, but didn’t give up.”
ICE CHIPS – Tigers star Cayden Lindstrom, who is expected to go in the top three or four in this year’s NHL Draft, took warmup but didn’t play after suiting up in each of the first two tilts in the series after missing 36 games … The Rebels special teams continue to be strong as they were two-for-six on the power play and killed off all three Medicine Hat power plays … They have now allowed just one power play goal on 11 chances in the series … Drancak, Latimer and Basha were the three stars … Wutzke finished with 30 saves and drew Struch’s praise, “He was very good and kept us in the game.” … Zahara made 27 saves … Game 4 goes Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the Peavey Mart Centrium with Game 5 Friday in Medicine Hat … If the sixth game is needed it’s Sunday in Red Deer (2 p.m.) with Game 7, if necessary, next Tuesday in Medicine Hat.
