A blown third period lead won’t sit well with the Brandon Wheat Kings, but thanks to a quick strike in overtime, it did them no harm in the standings.
Jaxon Jacobson scored the overtime winner and Brett Wilson, Nicholas Johnson and Prabh Bhathal all scored in regulation as the Wheat Kings beat the Moose Jaw Warriors 4-3 in overtime. Jayden Kraus turned aside 28 shots for the win in his 100th career game.
“If you get up 3-0 in the third period, you’ve got to close it out,” said Wheat Kings head coach and GM Marty Murray. “We’re not real thrilled to even get to overtime. They got one on the power play to make it 3-1, and that’s when we’ve got to clamp down. We got a little loose, there was a turnover at the blueline, and all of a sudden we’re in a game… At the end of the day, two points is two points.”
Fresh off his WHL debut in Prince Albert, Wilson buried his first WHL goal just over five minutes into the first period. Luke Mistelbacher waited for Wilson to come into the play from off the bench and fed it out front to him, and while Wilson’s redirection was stopped, he found his own rebound and backhanded it in.
Late in the first, another goalmouth scramble helped put the Wheat Kings up 2-0. Jordan Gavin’s shot off the rush produced a rebound and the Wheat Kings piled in after it, led by Joby Baumuller and Johnson. Johnson got the last touch on it, fighting loose from his check and backhanding it in.
Power play dominated the second period, with the Wheat Kings successfully killing off the first two that went the Warriors’ way, then going to work on three of their own. Despite a long stretch in the Moose Jaw zone, however, they were not able to stretch their lead.
Mistelbacher forced another turnover and set up another goal early in the third. Forechecking on the right wing, he stripped the puck and found Bhathal in the high slot, and the rookie wired a shot past Chase Wutzke and in for the 3-0 lead.
The Warriors struck back quickly, however. First, on their power play, Casey Brown found a rebound of a point shot and stuffed it home. Then, Riley Thorpe made the strip at the blue line and went in alone, finishing with a quick wrister high-glove.
A controversial goal gave the Warriors the tie. William Degagne took a one-timer from the left point that beat Kraus, who felt he was interfered with by Kash Andresen. The officials allowed the goal to stand, however.
In overtime, however, the Wheat Kings got the last laugh, and it took just 50 seconds. Giorgos Pantelas broke in and dropped it off to Jacobson in the slot, and Jacobson sent a bullet of a wrister past Wutzke for the OT winner.
The Wheat Kings next play on home ice against the Prince Albert Raiders on Friday, February 13 at 7:00
