“Good goaltending, timely scoring and a good penalty kill” were the ingredients Hitmen head coach Steve Hamilton felt added to the success of his club on Wednesday. The Winnipeg Ice had their first visit to the Saddledome since relocation spoiled by a late goal from Hitmen captain Mark Kastelic. Despite an at times dominant Winnipeg team highlighted by Peyton Krebs’ two assists, the Ice power play managed to capitalize on only one of six man advantages.
The initial period of this contest opened with Ice captain Peyton Krebs penalized just 51 seconds after puck drop. Unfortunately for the Hitmen, due to poor zone entries and puck movement Jett Woo was sent off for interference just 43 seconds later. With both penalties expired, Winnipeg netminder after making a quick save through traffic, made a terrific desperation save with a swat of the glove to preventing a hanging puck from making its way into the crease. On the other side, off the momentum of a strong power play, the ICE began to press with a higher volume of shots and scoring chances than Calgary. Brayden Peters, however, maintained composure and made saves on all 11 shots faced. With just 1:24 remaining in the frame, Dakota Krebs once again opened the scoring for the Hitmen as the veteran defenseman tallied of a gorgeous tic-tac-toe play with assists coming from Mark Kastelic and Josh Prokop.
The Hitmen opened the second with a strong kill of a Jackson Van De Leest roughing call which was handed out at the end of the first period. This kill provided Conrad Mitchell and the Hitmen to increase their lead to two just 3:16 in. A mishandled rebound off an Adam Kydd shot landed near the stick of Conrad Mitchell who outworked the Winnipeg defender to earn his first goal as a member of the Calgary Hitmen. Just past the six minute mark, the Hitmen were faced with the challenge of killing off a five on three. Despite Calgary’s penalty efforts, just seven seconds after the first penalty to Orca Wiesblatt ended, Peyton Krebs sent a beautiful feed to Ben Zloty who from the right faceoff dot slapped the puck into the yawning crease. The rookie, Zloty was a standout offensively all night on both the power play and even strength and with the goal recorded his 23rd point of the season. Much later in the frame, Krebs was once again added a primary assist on the game tying goal. This time around it was import standout and Chicago Blackhawks prospect Michal Teply who wired a shot above the shoulder of Peters to take a tie game into the locker room.
Despite the result of the later second period not leaning in favour of the Hitmen, Calgary did begin to force far more pressure in the offensive zone which transferred to the third frame. Although the play had evened out in terms of time on attack and possession, the Hitmen still trailed by a significant margin of shots by the middle mark of the period. Michal Teply with just over 10 minutes remaining was presented with a breakaway to take the first Winnipeg lead of the game. Unfortunately for Teply and the Ice, Brayden Peters had no problem making the stop as the puck slid right off the skilled forwards stick. With fatigue setting in late in the frame, the game continued along with minimal shots from both clubs and a high amount of neutral zone play. It was with just 44 seconds left in regulation that captain Kastelic took the lead for his Hitmen off a crisp behind the net pass from Riley Stotts. This ultimately sealed the deal as Winnipeg was unable to score late with the extra attacker.
The Hitmen will resume play on Friday as they take on the Brandon Wheat Kings at the Saddledome.
The Hitlist:
- Dakota Krebs recorded the second set of back-to-back goal games of his WHL career with the first coming on February 11th and 14th of 2018.
- Winnipeg’s power play has gone 5-for-15 against Calgary on the season while scoring on 23.5 percent of all man advantages this season.
