For most of the third period, the Brandon Wheat Kings looked like they’d be heading out of Regina in a bad mood. In the span of less than six minutes, they completely flipped the script.
Chase Surkan had a hat trick, and Joby Baumuller and Caleb Hadland scored twice each as the Wheat Kings took the 7-4 win over the Regina Pats. Jayden Kraus stopped 36 of 40 shots he faced for the win.
“It was pretty sloppy all around,” said Wheat Kings head coach and GM Marty Murray. “I didn’t think we had a lot going until the last ten minutes of the game and then we kind of erupted there. We found a way to get two points, that’s what it’s all about, and we’ll put those in the bank.”
Late in their first power play of the game, the Pats opened the scoring. Kraus made a stretching right pad stop on a net drive by Ephram McNutt, but the rebound came to Julien Maze, who ripped it home.
After two further penalty kills, the Wheat Kings got their first power play and made it count. Carter Klippenstein sent the puck from the left circle to Surkan back door as he drove the net, and the Regina native cashed in in his hometown to tie the game.
The Pats struck twice off a pair of turnovers early in the second. First, Jace Egland carried back in and rifled home a wrist shot from the left circle off the rush. Then, the Pats spun the puck from the left wing to the right for a waiting Liam Pue, and the rookie made no mistake.
Surkan struck back at even strength. Taking a pass off the rush from Luke Mistelbacher, Surkan was stopped on the first try but was right there for the rebound to make it a 3-2 game.
After some rare 3-on-3 play and a bevy of chances, including a post each way, the two teams battled to a stalemate into the second half of the third. Suddenly, the Wheat Kings’ offense exploded and struck lightning quick. First, Hadland picked off a pass, walked in alone, and rifled home his tenth of the season to make it 3-3.
The go-ahead goal came just 58 seconds later. Baumuller broke in up the right wing and tried to rip a shot similar to the one he scored on against Saskatoon, only to watch the puck bounce off a stick, off the trapper of Marek Schlenker, off the boards behind the Pats’ net, off the glove of Schlenker again, and in.
There was no favourable bounce needed on the next Wheat Kings goal. On the power play, Jordan Gavin slung the puck across the seam to the right circle for Surkan, and the rookie completed his second career hat trick in front of friends and family.
37 seconds later, the Wheat Kings stretched their lead again when Nicholas Johnson put the puck directly on Baumuller’s tape from point blank range. But Baumuller was assessed a minor penalty during his celebration and the Pats scored on the ensuing power play to cut the lead back down to two.
That was as close as the Pats got, however. With their net empty, Gavin fed the puck across to the man who had started the offensive roll, Hadland, and the captain fired home the seventh Wheat King goal of the game.
The Wheat Kings get on the road to head back home right away to face the Moose Jaw Warriors tomorrow night. Puck drop is 6:00 PM.
