Rebels advance to second round of WHL playoffs after 6-5 overtime thriller over Hitmen

Then, less than a minute later with the teams at even strength, Calgary was on the board again when Brandon Whynott netted his first goal of the playoffs at 14:09, beating Rebels netminder Kyle Kelsey from the top of the face-off circle to make it 2-1 Hitmen. London Hoilett and Grayden Siepmann assisted on the play.

However, special teams played a factor in the game once again when Red Deer’s Mats Lindgren scored his first of the playoffs, a slap shot from the point, on the power play, with just 37 seconds remaining in the period to tie the game 2-2, following a roughing penalty to Calgary’s Carter MacAdams. Ben King and Jayden Grubbe were credited with the assists.

Red Deer outshot Calgary 15-9 after 20 minutes.

The Rebels power play success continued into the second period as well when Mats Lindgren scored his second of the game and of the playoffs, at 7:32, when he shot one from the high slot through traffic, beating Brayden Peters to make it 3-2 Red Deer. The goal followed a slashing penalty to Calgary’s Maxim Muranov and was assisted by Ben King and Jayden Grubbe.

The Hitmen’s Maxim Muranov responded though, when he scored on a breakaway, beating Kyle Kelsey low blocker side at 12:19 to tie the game 3-3, thanks to a nice pass from Carter MacAdams along the boards.

Red Deer outshot Calgary in the second period 14-7, for a two-period total of 29-16 in favour of the Rebels.

The third period saw the Hitmen pull ahead 4-3, however, after Oliver Tulk popped one in off a rebound in the crease at 2:46, on the power play, following a hooking penalty to the Rebels Matteo Fabrizi. David Adaszynski and Grayden Siepmann chipped in the helpers for the Hitmen.

Calgary then added to their lead soon after the Hitmen’s Carter Yakemchuk was called for holding at 9:23. Teammate Maxim Muranov found himself on a breakaway and managed to slide one through the five hole of Kyle Kelsey during a deke to put the visitors up 5-3 at the 9:32 mark. It was an unassisted, shorthanded goal and Muranov’s second of the game and of the post season.

But the Rebels weren’t done, as Matteo Fabrizi scored a beauty off a wrist shot from the face-off dot at 15:32, beating Brayden Peters, high blocker side, to make it 5-4. Jace Weir and Jhett Larson assisted on the play to pull Red Deer to within one.

Then it was Red Deer’s Christoffer Sedoff who really sent the Centrium crowd into a tizzy when he scored off a slap shot from the face-off circle, beating a sprawled out Brayden Peters to the glove side to tie the game 5-5 with just 2:42 remaining in the third period. Jayden Grubbe and Ben King assisted on the critical, game-tying goal.

Then with just 45.7 seconds remaining, it appeared the Rebels had the game winning and series winning goal as the puck squeaked through the legs of Brayden Peters who was in the splits. But the goal was waived-off. Then the ruling appeared to change to a goal, then back to being waived-off again due to incidental contact on the goaltender.

That would eventually send what was truly a wild game into overtime with Red Deer outshooting Calgary 11-8 in the third period and 40-24 after 60 minutes.

In overtime, however, Red Deer controlled much of the play and kept the puck in Calgary’s zone for the most part and it would pay off at 4:56, when Ben King lit the lamp to seal the win and the series, putting an end to the Hitmen’s season and the Centrium crowd into a frenzy.

Red Deer outshot Calgary 4-0 in overtime and 44-24 overall.

As mentioned earlier, special teams had an impact on the game, with the Rebels going 3 for 6 on the power play and the Hitmen 2 for 5 with the man advantage.

Calgary’s Maxim Muranov who scored twice for the Hitmen, including a shorthanded goal, was named the game’s third star. Red Deer’s Mats Lindgren who earned two goals and two assists for four points was named second star, while Ben King who scored the overtime winner and added three assists for four points, was named the game’s first star.

Rebels head coach Steve Konowalchuk, admits it’s fun to win those overtime games.

“Give Calgary credit, they came out really hard today,” he points out. “There wasn’t one guy that I thought was ready to go home on that team, as you would expect that they’d play hard. But I’m so proud of our guys. I thought we played a good game pretty much from start to finish but there were some key mistakes we made and they capitalized but we kept going.”

Konowalchuk was also pleased to see the power play having success, noting half their goals were scored with the man advantage.

“That has to be a little bit of a weapon for you,” he explains. “At times, they have some big guys, they get chippy and I think the last couple games when they did that, we were able to put the puck in the net. You want your power play to be a little bit of a weapon and I think as the series got going more and more, we got a little bit better.”

“Our guys battled hard, really, every game,” he continues. “Finishing checks if it was there, taking hits, taking hits to make plays. You know, that’s probably the most important thing in a game, is being strong on pucks and our guys battled for one another, blocking shots.”

“Penalty kill was huge, especially early in the series,” adds Konowalchuk, “You need a lot of good things to win a series and we had goaltending too, we had good goaltending, so a lot of things came together and I think the work ethic, the character, when we were down two goals kind of shows what we have in that room of caring and pride. Led by our leaders, no one hung their heads, they just kept going and kept going and they were able to tie it up.”

by Sheldon Spackman

Rebels advance to second round of WHL playoffs after 6-5 overtime thriller over Hitmen

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