It was a close, albeit unusual, game between the Wheat Kings and Edmonton Oil Kings until the third period. Then, all of a sudden, the Wheat Kings were firmly in the drivers’ seat and it was no longer close.
Luke Mistelbacher scored twice and Prabh Bhathal, Giorgos Pantelas, and Jaxon Jacobson all had a goal and two assists as the Wheat Kings as the Wheat Kings hammered Edmonton 8-4. Brady Turko, Cameron Allard, and Nicholas Johnson also scored, while Jayden Kraus made 35 saves in the team’s sixth straight win.
“We had probably our best period of the weekend and I’m really proud of the effort again,” said Wheat Kings, head coach and GM Marty Murray. “On this six game winning streak we’ve gone up against a lot of really good teams, a big divisional one against Saskatoon standings wise, and to knock off Prince Albert, Penticton, and now Edmonton in this stretch, I’m quite proud of the guys, especially given the fact we’re so shorthanded.”
On their first power play of the game, Edmonton opened the scoring. Ethan MacKenzie hit the post with a point shot, and the rebound popped out to Miroslav Holinka, who snapped in his 32nd of the season.
It only took 38 seconds for the Wheat Kings to respond. Jaxon Jacobson won the puck back to Pantelas after finding the rebound of a Mistelbacher rush, and the sophomore defenseman fired the puck through traffic and in.
Edmonton had a similarly rapid response, however. Under five minutes after the Wheat Kings tied it, a shot from the point broke a Wheat Kings’ stick and dropped right at the feet of Landon Hanson, who wasted no time firing it to the top corner.
This time, the Wheat Kings’ response took a little longer, but they did respond. On their first power play of the evening, Turko worked the puck to Allard at the left circle, and Allard managed to leak his shot through Parker Snell to tie the game again.
Though their second power play didn’t convert, the Wheat Kings soon got some karmic revenge. As Jimmy Egan dumped the puck in, it took a dramatic bounce off the near corner boards and popped right back out front to Bhathal, who deposited it into the empty net.
From there, the referees handed the Oil Kings two full minutes of 5-on-3, and the visitors capitalized. After 90 seconds of successful penalty killing work by the Wheat Kings, Carter Sotheran got the puck in the slot and picked his spot to square the score once again.
But before the period was out, the Wheat Kings’ power play earned its revenge. After stopping an Oil Kings’ shorthanded rush, Grayson Burzynski turned the puck quickly up ice to Mistelbacher, who cut to the slot, out-waiting a sprawling Oil King as he did, and snapped home the go-ahead goal.
The third period passed in a blinding flurry of Wheat Kings’ goals, and it started just 35 seconds in. Jordan Gavin won a battle on the right wing of Oil Kings’ territory and fed it out front to Turko, who walked into a bullet of a shot for his 15th of the season.
Just over two minutes later, the Wheat Kings doubled up on Edmonton. Burzynski let a shot go from the left wing that produced a big rebound, and Johnson was ready and waiting for it to make it 6-3.
That was the end of the night for Snell, but the Wheat Kings treated his replacement, Ethan Simcoe, no better. Jacobson sent a saucer pass to Mistelbacher streaking up the middle, and he faked the shot before dancing to the backhand and slipping home his second of the game.
Still the Wheat Kings were not done. On another power play, Gavin found the puck at the top of the right circle and sent it across the seam to Jacobson, who buried his 21st of the season.
With time ticking down and the game getting more and more chaotic, the Oil Kings wrapped up the scoring. With Gavin Hodnett shielding the puck in the offensive zone, he left the puck at the left circle for Josh Lee, and Lee rifled one to the top corner.
With six consecutive wins under their belt, the Wheat Kings now await the arrival of the Prince George Cougars. They’ll be in town on Tuesday night at 7:00.
