By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

Rebels earn first win of the season versus Hitmen

Sep 28, 2018 | 11:27 PM

The Red Deer Rebels got the early season monkey off their back Friday night, defeating the Calgary Hitmen by a final score of 4-3.

With the victory, Red Deer improves their record to 1-2, while Central Division rival Calgary drops to 0-2.

“We certainly made it interesting. They made a push in the third. But I liked a lot of things we did,” said head coach Brent Sutter post-game. “I thought after the first period we had some of our younger guys playing better. Some in the first period were trying to do too much.”

Calgary got on the board less than four minutes in, Zach Huber with the goal, but not before the snake-bitten Jeff de Wit had already failed on a breakaway.

Less than three minutes later, Jacob Herauf did equalize for Red Deer.

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The score tied 1-1 going into the second period, it was still anyone’s game.

Hitmen assistant captain Riley Stotts was called for interference midway through the period and Red Deer’s Russian dynamo made them pay.

Alexander Alexeyev, who signed his NHL entry-level deal with Washington last weekend, scored his third goal in as many games to give the Rebels their first lead of the night.

Late in the frame, Calgary’s Layne Toder tied things up, but it was just 27 seconds later and before the period was out that Jeff de Wit finally broke through with a goal.

The Rebels leading 3-2 to start the third, Brandon Hagel ripped a beautiful shot by Hitmen netminder Carl Stankowski just 42 seconds in, his first of the season.

Calgary would draw within one about seven minutes in, Hunter Campbell with the tally for the visiting side.

A pair of late penalties against Red Deer had fans on the edges of their seats, but the Rebels’ PK and goaltender Ethan Anders stood tall to secure the two points.

“I thought our defense was good tonight for the most part and Andy (Anders) made some big saves too,” coach Sutter added. “Down the stretch, those two penalty kills were huge for us. You could say one call was questionable and the other was 200 feet from our net that we can’t take… and we got a powerplay goal.”

Despite leading on the shot clock after two periods, Red Deer fell behind in the end 33-28 and were outshot 18-7 in the third. Calgary finished 0/3 on the powerplay, while Red Deer was 1/4.

The Booster Juice Three Stars of the Game were Hitmen Egor Zamula (***), Alexander Alexeyev (** – 1G, 8 shots), and Brandon Hagel (* – 1G, 2A).

Ethan Anders stopped 30 of 33 shots, while his counterpart Stankowski made 24 stops on 28 shots faced.

The Rebels play next Saturday night at 7 p.m. against the Swift Current Broncos (0-3) who lost 5-0 in Edmonton on Friday. The Broncos have been outscored 15-1 in those three games.

106.7 The Drive will carry the broadcast LIVE on Saturday night beginning at 6:30.