Zablocki pots winner in second straight OT victory

It wasn’t your average crowd at the Enmax Centrium Saturday night — the Devil, Deadpool, and oompa loompas all in the house to see the Red Deer Rebels take on the Regina Pats ahead of Halloween.

A rested Regina Pats squad had the upperhand for most of the game, but in the end, Red Deer skated away with a thrilling 4-3 win.

The Rebels got the start they needed, d-man Hunter Donohoe notching his first WHL goal at 3:23 to draw first blood.

Six minutes later, Carson Sass was sent off for slashing, a penalty which was negated a few moments later when former Rebel Josh Mahura tripped his man and got called for two minutes.

Nothing came of the short bout of 4-on-4 action and then Jared Dmytriw put the Rebels down a man once again at 15:30, penalized for checking from behind.

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Instead of the powerplay working in the Pats’ favour, the newest Red Deer Rebel Jack Flaman scored his first with his new team, and shorthanded to boot.

One second following the same man advantage, Regina finally got on the board, Dawson Davidson making it 2-1. Regina led 16-7 on the shotclock despite trailing after one.

In the second, it was all Regina.

The Rebels’ Reese Johnson put his team shorthanded early on, shooting the puck over the glass for a delay of game penalty. Akash Bains only made matters worse for Red Deer when he took a slashing penalty to put the Rebels down two men for 36 seconds.

Regina capitalized as Mahura picked up his 5th of the season to make it 2-2.

At 9:11, Robbie Holmes put the Pats ahead 3-2 with his 3rd of the year.

Regina couldn’t take advantage of a late period cross-checking penalty taken by Mason McCarty, and after 40 minutes, the shots were 27-13 for the away side.

The Rebels found their feet to start the third and were given a gift-wrapped opportunity to take advantage.

With Egor Zamula serving a tripping minor just two minutes in, Grayson Pawlenchuk potted his 8th of the season and 50th of his WHL career, to make it 3-3.

In OT, Lane Zablocki cut up the right wing, around his man and to the front of the net before roofing it shortside over Tyler Brown for the victory.

Final shots were 31-20 for Regina. Ethan Anders stopped 28 shots to improve his record to 4-4-0-0 on the season.

The Booster Juice three stars of the game were Lane Zablocki (3rd), Josh Mahura (2nd) and Ethan Anders (1st).

Following the game, Head Coach Brent Sutter wasn’t pleased with his team’s effort, saying Anders kept them in it for 40 minutes. 

“If that’s acceptable, I guess that’s acceptable,” he said of the Rebels’ work ethic.

With the win, Red Deer improves to 8-6-0-0, good enough for second in the Central Division, behind Medicine Hat and ahead of Lethbridge. Highlight’s from Saturday night are available here.

Up next for Red Deer is a matinee roadie on Sunday in Cranbrook. Puck drop between the Rebels and Kootenay Ice is at 4 p.m. The pre-game gets going at 3:50 on 106.7 The Drive. The Rebels return to home ice Wednesday against the Seattle Thunderbirds. Puck drop is at 7 p.m.