The Wheat Kings were encouraged not to dip their toe into the playoffs but to leap right in. They answered the bell physically and played with pace, but still fell in game one against the Lethbridge Hurricanes.
Nolan Flamand, Roger McQueen, and Dylan Ronald scored, but the Wheat Kings fell 6-3 to Lethbridge. Carson Bjarnason stopped 36 shots before having to leave the game after a collision.
“There’s lots of emotion in game one of the playoffs, lots of shots,” said Wheat Kings head coach and GM Marty Murray. “I actually didn’t mind our game for the better part of two periods. Giving up two early in the second period was a bit of a killer, but we fought back. But to give up the one at the end of the second was pretty tough.”
After an ultra-physical start to the game, the two teams traded power plays and the Hurricanes made good on theirs. Brayden Yager sent the puck from the top of the right circle to Leo Braillard waiting at the top of the crease, and he tapped it in.
At four-on-four, the Hurricanes struck again. Vojtech Port pinched up to take some open ice, and once he got the puck he wasted no time snapping it home.
But before that four-on-four was even over, the Wheat Kings had their answer. Quinn Mantei sent the puck up ice to Flamand, and he drove the slot before wiring a shot past Jackson Unger for the Wheat Kings’ first goal of the playoffs.
The Hurricanes seized the momentum back with the first five-on-five goals of the game just 13 seconds apart. First, Shane Smith found himself alone at the side of the net and one-timed home a pass. Then, Anthony Wilson threw the puck on net from the right circle and a got a redirection from Trae Johnson to make it 4-1.
The third power play of the game for the Wheat Kings gave them some momentum back. Mantei fed McQueen at the top of the left circle, and after faking the one timer McQueen stepped forward and rifled one to the top corner.
More four-on-four play got the Wheat Kings closer still. Flamand and Ronald worked a give-and-go with Ronald stepping into a shot from the left circle and powering one past Unger to make it 4-3.
With just 13.4 seconds on the clock, however, the Hurricanes got a bit of a dagger. Kooper Gizowski took a drop pass and snapped it past Bjarnason from the high slot to restore the Hurricanes’ two-goal lead.
Midway through the third period, the Hurricanes wrapped up the scoring as Braillard kicked the puck to his stick off the rush and beat Bjarnason low.
Later, as Miguel Marques drove the net, he ran Bjarnason over and forced the Wheat Kings’ stalwart netminder to leave the game. Ethan Eskit came in to relieve him and did not surrender any goals on the four shots he faced.
The 6-3 score would hold, however, and the Wheat Kings drop game one. The rematch is tomorrow night at 6:00 local time, 7:00 Central.
