The Wheat Kings overcame a tough start, took a third period lead, and ultimately saw another playoff game go to overtime in Calgary. And again, it ended in a heartbreaker.
Luke Mistelbacher scored twice, and Jaxon Jacobson, Jimmy Egan, and Grayson Burzynski all scored but the Wheat Kings dropped their second consecutive overtime game. Filip Ruzicka made 38 saves in the loss.
“The first period was really rough and I can’t really put my finger on it,” said Wheat Kings head coach and GM Marty Murray. “It was tough coming off the triple overtime game but we gave them yesterday off and skated today to try and recharge the batteries but we were really flat in the first. We got it going in the second and third.”
It didn’t take 105 minutes for the opening goal of this one. On a delayed penalty call against the Wheat Kings, Kale Dach picked up the puck at the bottom of the left circle and snapped a drag-shot past Ruzicka and in.
Moments after the Wheat Kings missed on a power play, the Hitmen came back the other way and made them pay. Andrei Moglachev took a feed that left him alone in front, cut to his backhand, and slipped home the second tally of the game.
Even shorthanded, the Hitmen pressed. Dach found himself on a clean breakaway on the Wheat Kings’ second power play of the game. Ruzicka stayed right with him, however, and turned his forehand move aside.
The Wheat Kings rewarded their netminder with some offense in the second period. First, Ryan Boyce drove the net and though he was robbed by the right pad of Tu, he left a rebound for Egan, who pounced on it and buried the first goal of the playoffs for Brandon.
Just 90 seconds later, the Wheat Kings struck again. Jacobson spotted Burzynski jumping up into the attack and left him on a 2-on-1. The veteran defenseman kept the shot for himself and beat Tu cleanly.
But Calgary got a bounce and retook the lead. After a power play on which the Wheat Kings hit a crossbar and were robbed twice by Tu, Julien Maze was sent in alone fresh out of the penalty box and he made no mistake to give the Hitmen back the one-goal advantage.
Mistelbacher struck twice in the first 1:11 of the third period to give the Wheat Kings their first lead of the series. First, he picked up the puck in the right corner and fired it at the net, bouncing it off Tu’s arm and in.
Only 14 seconds later, Mistelbacher was at it again. Prabh Bhathal won a puck battle and sent Mistelbacher streaking up the left wing, from where he rifled home the go-ahead goal.
Jacobson built on the Wheat Kings’ lead with a great individual effort. After Bhathal took a hit to make a play in the neutral zone, Jacobson one-handed it to himself, broke in, and as he was falling, chipped it in.
But the Hitmen were far from finished. First, Ethan Moore buried a rebound on the power play for the first man advantage goal of the series. Then, after a questionable icing call, the Hitmen were allowed to pull their goaltender and made good, with Axel Hurtig redirecting a point shot by Maze to tie the game with 1:11 to go.
In overtime, the Hitmen power play struck again. Moore found a rebound and, for the second overtime game in a row, ended the contest.
The Wheat Kings return to Manitoba and prepare for the first of what could be three games in Virden on Tuesday, March 31. Puck drop is 7:00 PM.
