“I thought we did a lot of good things, we had certain individuals play better tonight, our team game was better.” said Head Coach Brent Sutter following the Rebels 5-2 victory over the Lethbridge Hurricanes.
An all around better effort from the burgundy and white clad Rebels would push the playoff series to a fifth game.
The Rebels would come out firing early in this game. The feistiness from early in the game the night before wasn’t as prevalent but it wouldn’t take long to return.
Red Deer jumped out to an early 6-1 lead on shots but Logan Flodell of the Hurricanes was equal to the task. None of the chances were of the difficult variety but he did his best to stay sharp and keep the game scoreless.
Flodell couldn’t stop them all though as the Rebels would score the all-important first goal in this game.
An amazing sequence from the Rebels line of Reese Johnson, Brandon Cutler and Grayson Pawlenchuk would give the Rebels their first lead. An errant pass hit a stick and went up in the air where it was picked up at the Hurricanes blue line by Cutler. He gained the zone and shoveled the puck over to a wide-open Johnson. He only had Flodell to beat and he was able to clang it off both the posts and in to put the Rebels up 1-0. It was a real sniper’s type of goal.
“Obviously you want to get the lead on the scoreboard, but it was huge this game and we stuck with it, “said Johnson when asked about how big of a lift it was to score first.
The feistiness would return as Mason McCarty and Taylor Ross would tangle in front of Flodell on a Rebels power play. The referee would hand out coincidental minors and the teams would continue to exchange face-washes and pokes in the after whistle scrums. The hard checking style of the Rebels was beginning to frustrate the Hurricanes.
With 39 seconds to go a shot from beside the Rebel net by Stanley would bank off a skate in front of the net and sneak by Ethan Anders. A turnover by the Rebels in their own end would result in the Hurricanes tying the game at one just before intermission.
Red Deer led the way offensively, putting 19 shots on Flodell while Anders had faced just 10 Lethbridge shots.
The first half of period two was much more like a chess match, both teams were unable to generate much offense. Neither goalie was really tested and there were a lot of whistles that made the play feel choppy and disorganized.
That would change right before the radio timeout, as Grayson Pawlenchuk created a great chance, getting the puck to Reese Johnson in the slot. Johnson turned and fired a shot that Flodell had to be sharp to stop but he kept the game tied at one.
Lethbridge would take a lead of their own after a terribly timed line change by the Rebel forward group. The Hurricanes would capitalize when Morrison brought the puck into the Rebels zone, waited for Tate Olsen to get into the clear and slid a behind the back pass to him. A seeing eye shot made it past a screened Anders and the Hurricanes were up 2-1.
Less than a minute later an Alexander Alexeyev shot that missed the net, found the stick of Reese Johnson behind the Hurricanes net. McCarty was streaking in wide open, got the puck at the bottom of the circle. He beat Flodell to bring the game back to a tie with 3:49 to play in the second.
The teams would head to their dressing rooms tied at two, the Rebels shot advantage was 31-18.
Red Deer had some time remaining on a power play that went into the early third period. Just 38 seconds into the final frame, Reichel floated a puck toward the Hurricanes net. It hit a stick somewhere between the blue line and Flodell and went to the opposite side of the net. Flodell was caught moving one way and the puck went to the other side of the net where a waiting Hagel had a wide open net and he scored to put the Rebels out in front 3-2.
The teams would exchange penalties later in the third period. Once those penalties were over, the Hurricanes created a good chance in the Rebel end. Alexander Alexeyev tripped up a Hurricane player to negate the chance and would be sent to the penalty box. The mighty Lethbridge power play would get another opportunity to tie the game up.
The Rebel penalty killers were able to survive a barrage of shots by making timely blocks and getting saves from Anders.
As Alexeyev came out of the box he and McCarty were sprung on a 2-on-0. Alexeyev used McCarty as a decoy and slid the puck under a sprawling Flodell to put the Rebels up 4-2.
Red Deer did a good job of keeping the Hurricanes outside the zone and to the perimeter when they gained the zone. The period would wind down slowly for the Rebels.
With Flodell pulled Brandon Hagel got tagged with a hooking penalty. It would give the Hurricanes a 6-on-4 opportunity, their best chance of the third to get back to within one. Unfortunately the Hurricanes iced the puck with 1:18 to play and were forced to put Flodell back in the net.
Reichel would seal the game with an empty net goal with 27.2 to play in regulation.
The Red Deer Rebels power play was 1-for-5 while the penalty kill as a perfect 4-for-4. “(Killing all those penalties) that was huge, you know and to get the power play goal too.” said Sutter.
“We got some key saves, Anders played well. He probably would have liked to have that first one back but he didn’t get rattled from it. He stayed settled in.” added Sutter when talking about the game by his starting goalie.
“Andy (Anders) obviously made a couple of key saves late in the third there, some good quality scoring chances he stopped the puck which is huge at this time of year” commented Johnson on his netminder’s game.
