It took both teams a while to get the game going, following the longer-than-usual home opening game ceremonies. While both teams were looking to find their legs early, the action was certainly leaning towards the home side as the team fed off the early buzz in the rink.
It was nearly eleven and a half minutes before the game saw its best chance. And it was the home side that capitalized. Dallon Melin scored on a Dylan Myskiw rebound. Keaton Sorensen‘s hard work in front of the Oil Kings net put the puck to Melin, and the crowd was whipped into a frenzy.
Unfortunately, the momentum was zapped following a Cameron Hausinger penalty.
The Rebels had nearly killed off the entire two minutes before Scott Atkinson tied the game at one. His one-timer was perfectly placed, and Ethan Anders didn’t have a chance.
Then, with 14 seconds left in the opening period, Josh Williams shoveled home the rebound of a Vladimir Alistrov point shot.
The visitors had sucked the wind out of the Rebels’ sails and the air out of the Centrium.
“I thought we had a pretty good start, kinda feeding off the crowd at the start. They scored on the power play there and it kinda took the momentum away from us, and they managed to get another one,” said alternate captain Brett Davis.
The momentum was clearly on the Oil Kings’ side. They burst out of the gates to take a two goal lead less than two minutes into the middle stanza. Oil Kings captain Scott Atkinson picked up his second goal of the game and set the tone of the period.
The Rebels had only managed two shots on net through the first 15 minutes of the second period. Then, a power play of their own finally seemed to turn the tables a little bit, giving some relief to the defense and Anders.
“I thought we had moments where we played well. I thought the second period put us on our heels. After we killed the penalty there in the first and they got the power play goal, it took us a while to get regrouped again,” said GM and head coach Brent Sutter.
It took a while for the teams to find their legs in the third, but when they did, the Rebels started finishing checks and taking the body to the Oil Kings. Because of the change in the way the team was playing, they were able to start generating some offense.
Brett Davis took a quick shot in the slot, following some hard work by Ethan Sakowich. The goal cut the lead to 3-2. Red Deer still had a little more than six minutes to complete the comeback. It was all for naught.
When David Kope killed the comeback attempt with his first goal of the season, there were just over two minutes left on the clock.
“They took it to us pretty good in the second, and I thought in the third, once we started getting engaged and finishing checks, more guys involved, we played well again,” continued Sutter.
“I thought we were trailing in the second a lot, but we had a better third, but we’ll come back strong tomorrow,” added Davis.
“The team motto we have is to always finish checks around the ice. You could kind of tell by the crowd when we were doing that. They got kinda into it a lot more and I think we were feeding off that in the third, which made us play a lot better and a lot heavier. We’ll have to get a win tomorrow.”
A pretty good night for the youngsters
“I think they did good. Obviously it’s your first game of the year. I remember my first game. You are really nervous and you don’t want to make mistakes. They’ll learn when it comes to turnovers and little things like that. They’ll learn as time goes on but overall I thought it was pretty good,” said Davis about the team’s crop of up-and-coming players.
Keaton Sorensen was the only rookie to hit the scoresheet in his debut. He earned an assist on the opening goal of the night.
Rebel Yell… Three Stars in the building were 1) Scott Atkinson 2) Brett Davis 3) Vladimir Alistrov. There were just 46 faceoffs taken in the entirety of the game, with Edmonton winning 25 (54.3%). Red Deer was 0-for-4 on the man advantage; Edmonton was 1-for-3. Brett Davis posted 5 shots on net while three Oil Kings had 4 shots apiece. The teams will play tomorrow night in Edmonton at 4:00 at Rogers Place.
