Nguyen leads offense, Eskit stands tall in Wheat Kings win over Raiders
Again the Wheat Kings had their best period in the third period, this time in a road game against the Prince Albert Raiders. But the periods leading up to that were the wildest, roughest hockey of the season.
Marcus Nguyen scored twice, and Ethan Eskit stopped 32 of 33 shots he faced in a 4-1 Wheat Kings win. Dominik Petr and Roger McQueen also scored in the victory.
“I was saying to the guys, it didn’t feel like game three of the season, it felt like game three of a playoff series,” said Wheat Kings head coach and GM Marty Murray. “It had a lot of intensity, it was hard, it was heavy, and both teams came to play.”
Long before the goals started going in, the game had more than its share of entertainment value. Huge body checks and after-whistle scrums abounded, and Eskit and Max Hildebrand traded highlight reel saves at both ends on the penalty kill.
The Wheat Kings finally broke through on the power play with a quick-touch passing play from Nolan Flamand to Nguyen at the right circle. Nguyen wasted no time, leaning into a heavy shot to put Brandon up 1-0.
Most of the second period was done before the story changed again on the scoreboard. After Ben Binder Nord won a battle in the offensive zone, he freed the puck up for Petr, who drove the middle and snapped home his first of the season.
Late in the second, the Raiders got their answer. Lukas Dragicevic drove around the offensive zone and zipped a shot low and hard along the ice, tipped home by Ethan Bibeau to cut the Wheat Kings’ lead in half.
With the game in the balance, McQueen came through in the third period for the Wheat Kings again. He took the puck up ice himself, broke in one-on-two and still fought his way loose to get a bullet of a shot away to make it 3-1.
With over three minutes to go in the game, the Raiders pulled Hildebrand for the extra man. Nguyen made them pay almost instantly, taking the puck off a faceoff scramble, carrying ahead, and lifting home the final Wheat Kings’ goal of the game.
The win moves the Wheat Kings to 3-0 on the season, and gives them the first game of the road trip. They’ll try to take the second when they travel to Saskatoon to face the Blades tomorrow.
