Wheat Kings power past the Royals

The Victoria Royals (9-2-1-0) fell to the Brandon Wheat Kings (8-3-0-1) Saturday night at the Westman Place in Brandon, in what was a showdown of two of the top teams in the WHL.
Coming into the game, each team were man-advantage specialists, as Brandon boasted the top power play percentage, while Victoria had the most power play goals on the season. The Royals were playing their fifth game of a seven-game eastern road trip swing, having lost the night before to the Regina Pats 5-3 in a third period collapse. The Wheat Kings also played the night before, powered by defenceman Kale Clague’s hat-trick to beat the Vancouver Giants 6-5.
To start the game, the Royals turned the net over to Dean McNabb, who was making his second career start, his first being a victory against the Kamloops Blazers earlier in the season. McNabb would face a tough test in Brandon, as the Royals decided to rest their workhorse Griffen Outhouse.
Also of note coming into this evening’s action was the red-hot forward Tyler Soy only needing one point to set the Royals record for most points. Soy, who was named the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) and WHL player of the week for last week, sat tied with former Royals forward Jack Walker at 248 points.

Brandon opened the scoring as their potent power play struck at 5:06 of the first as Linden McCorrister got the goal with assists from Clague and Stelio Mattheos. Just over a minute later at 6:17, Soy scored to set the point record and move into top spot as all-time Royals point leader, adding to an impressive week for the Anaheim Ducks prospect who now has 14 points in eight games.
At 13:52 of the second period, Victoria’s Matthew Phillips scored his eleventh of the season as the teams were four-on-four, as the Royals pulled ahead 2-1. The goal kept Phillips’ point streak alive, now at 13 games (11G-17A-28Pts). Brandon took control from there, as McCorrister scored his second of the night at 17:29, again on the power play from Mattheos and Clague.
The game-winning goal came at 8:35 of the third as Tanner Kaspick scored on a nice burst coming through the neutral zone, cutting to the net on a nice power move to tuck it far side. Assisting were Ty Lewis and Clague again for his third assist of the evening. McNabb made some fine saves to give the Royals a chance to get back in the game, but McCorrister put the game on ice with a hat trick empty-netter the send the hats flying at 19:06.
Brandon’s power play went 2-for-7 this evening after going 3-for-5 the night before, clearly powering them to the victory. At the other end, Victoria went 0-for-7 with man advantage and couldn’t capitalize on the power play opportunities like they have earlier this season. McNabb played well, making timely saves and captured the third star. Clague now has seven points in two games and was named second star. First star of the game was McCorrister after the hat-trick and solid overall game.

Dean McNabb made his 2nd career start and was 3rd star

Victoria now has its first back-to-back regulation losses of the season, while tonight’s result meant back-to-back wins for Brandon.
Victoria now has a couple days rest before they look to get back on track Tuesday, Oct. 24 when they visit the Saskatoon Blades.