It was a good night for offense between the Brandon Wheat Kings and Regina Pats in Ochapowace, and no one had a better night than import forward Kris Muissu.
Muissu scored four goals in the first half of the game, but that would prove to be the sum of the Wheat Kings offense as they fell 6-4 in the rematch of the previous night. Hudson Landmark scored in the showcase overtime.
“The result wasn’t what we wanted but I thought we made some real strides tonight,” said Wheat Kings head coach and GM Marty Murray. “We were a really inexperienced lineup again tonight and they had pretty much their team. I thought our kids hung in pretty well, it was just disappointing not to be able to hang on.”
On the first power play of the game, the Wheat Kings opened scoring. Cam Allard sent the puck from the top of the umbrella to the right circle for Muissu, and Muissu walked in and ripped home the opening tally.
Muissu was back at it at four-on-four midway through the period. Prabh Bhathal beat his defender wide and sent a pass to Muissu as he drove the net, tapping home his second of the period.
But the Pats replied on their own first power play at 4-on-3. Maddox Schultz scored on almost an inverted replay of Muissu’s power play goal, shooting from the top of the left circle and picking the right corner where Muissu had shot from the right circle and picked the top left.
Not quite five minutes into the second period, the Wheat Kings were given a lengthy five-on-three and Muissu feasted on the Pats PK. Just three seconds into the two-man advantage, Muissu found the puck in the slot and wasted no time snapping home his hat trick tally.
But Muissu wasn’t done. In the back half of the five-on-three, Chase Surkan fed the puck to the slot for Brett Wilson who fed it to his right. This time Muissu unleashed the one-timer, and beat Marek Schlenker for his fourth.
“Last night was his first real game in North America ,” Murray said. “It’s going to take some time, but I thought he was a beast tonight. The four goals speak for themselves but I thought he was strong and had a power move where he hit a post too. He could easily have had five or six goals.”
Regina’s import forward had their reply. Samuel Karsay started out by scoring on the power play, finding a rebound at the left side of the net and swatting it home and then, at even strength, the Slovakian import scored an almost identical goal to bring the Pats back within one.
Early in the third, on another power play, hometown forward Connor Bear parked himself in front and redirected a point shot by Aiden Wagner, tying the score at four. And later in the third, after the Pats sent bodies to the net off the rush, and Cohen Klassen was there to find a second rebound and give them their first lead of the night.
A late power play wasn’t enough to tie the game for the Wheat Kings as Bear, stepping out of the box, found the empty net to the delight of the hometown crowd.
Again the two teams played an unofficial overtime, and this time they got a goal out of it. Landmark broke in up the right wing after a strong defensive play in the neutral zone and ripped a shot to the top corner for the overtime tally.
The Wheat Kings are back at preseason action next Friday when they host the Moose Jaw Warriors.
