By Sheldon Spackman

5-4 OT Victory

Rebels win overtime thriller in Edmonton

Apr 3, 2022 | 7:02 PM

The Red Deer Rebels brought their three-game winning streak into Rogers Place in Edmonton Sunday and came away with a stunning 5-4 overtime victory over the Oil Kings.

The first period saw the Rebels strike first when Sylvan Lake native Talon Brigley scored his seventh goal of the season on Edmonton netminder Kolby Hay at 3:07 to put the visitors up 1-0. Blake Gustafson and Jackson van de Leest assisted on the play.

Red Deer would then go up 2-0 when Liam Keeler jammed home a loose puck in the crease at 16:08 following a tripping penalty to the Oil Kings Dawson Seitz. The power play goal was Keeler’s 24^th of the season and assisted by Christoffer Sedoff and Arshdeep Bains.

Edmonton would respond with a goal of their own though before the period came to an end, when Jakub Demek scored his 20^th goal of the season on Rebels netminder Connor Ungar at 19:32, thanks to assists from Josh Williams and Simon Kubicek to make it 2-1 Red Deer heading into the break.

The period ended, however, with Edmonton’s Jaxsen Wiebe taking an unsportsmanlike penalty at 20:00 to give Red Deer a power play to start the second.

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Shots on goal were 15-11 Edmonton after 20 minutes of play.

With Red Deer unable to capitalize on the power play to start the second period, it was Edmonton who scored next when Justin Sourdif lit the lamp at 2:54 to tie the game 2-2. It was Sourdif’s 23^rd goal of the season and assisted by Dylan Guenther.

The Oil Kings then pulled ahead at 8:47 when Cole Miller earned is eighth goal of the season thanks to an assist from Justin Sourdif to make it 3-2, giving the home team the lead for the first time in the game.

Red Deer would tie it back up before the period ended though when Ben King scored his 48^th goal of the season at 18:23, on the power play, following an interference penalty to Edmonton’s Jalen Luypen. Arshdeep Bains and Christoffer Sedoff assisted on the play which made it 3-3 after 40 minutes.

Edmonton outshot Red Deer 9-8 in the second period for a two-period total of 24-21 in favour of the Oil Kings.

The score remained tied for most of the third period until the Rebels Ben King was called for slashing at 16:34, then teammate Liam Keeler called for delay of game just six seconds later to give Edmonton a two-man advantage.

The Oil Kings capitalized when Jaxsen Wiebe scored at 18:04 to put Edmonton ahead 4-3 with less than two minutes to play. The power play goal was Wiebe’s ninth of the season and assisted by Tyler Horstmann and Simon Kubicek.

Then with just 35 seconds left to play, the Rebels pulled goaltender Connor Ungar from the net to add the extra skater and it paid off as Arshdeep Bains scored with just 9.2 seconds left to make it 4-4. It was Bains’ 14^th goal of the season and assisted by Jayden Grubbe.

It set the stage for overtime where the late game dramatics continued. Red Deer’s Jhett Larson scored on a breakaway at the 2:10 mark, beating Kolby Hay through the five-hole for the thrilling overtime winner. It was Larson’s 11^th goal of the season and assisted by Jace Weir to make it a 5-4 OT final.

Edmonton outshot Red Deer 14-9 in the third period for a three-period total of 38-31 in favour of the Oil Kings. In overtime, Red Deer outshot Edmonton 2-1 for a full-game total of 39-33 in favour of Edmonton.

On the power play, Red Deer went 2/6, while Edmonton was 1/6 with the man advantage.

The game’s third star went to Edmonton’s Justin Sourdif who had one goal and one assist on the night. The second star went to Red Deer’s Arshdeep Bains who earned one goal and two assists for a three-point night, while the first star went to the Rebels Jhett Larson who scored the overtime winner.

The overtime win improves the Rebels record to 43-17-2-2 with 90 points and third place in the WHL’s Eastern Conference, while Edmonton drops to 46-14-3-1 with 96 points and second place in the Eastern Conference.

The Rebels next game is Friday, April 8, 7:00 p.m. at the Peavey Mart Centrium against the Lethbridge Hurricanes.