Wheat Kings hold off Winterhawks

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This article was published 05/01/2023 (622 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Nate Danielson had a goal and two assists as the Brandon Wheat Kings weathered a furious rally by the visiting Portland Winterhawks to earn a 3-2 victory in their Western Hockey League game at Westoba Place Friday.

Brett Hyland and Quinn Mantei also scored for Brandon (16-17-4-0), with Jack O’Brien and James Stefan replying for Portland (26-5-2-1) in front of a crowd of 2,595 as Portland visited for the first time since Jan. 8, 2019.

Brandon head coach and general manager Marty Murray was pleased with his group as they handed the visitors their fifth regulation loss of the season.

“It was a big win against a really good hockey team,” Murray said. “They come in with four losses and the first two periods you go up 3-0. We need to understand what it takes to win hockey games and close games out, and we’ve done a pretty good job of that lately.

“We just have to manage our pucks better. We don’t want to take away anything offensively but at the same time, when it’s not there you can’t force it.”

The two speedy squads certainly started quickly.

Nolan Ritchie went in on a breakaway a minute into the game, with Portland goalie Jan Spunar making his first save a good one as he turned aside the puck with his blocker.

Brandon weathered a pair of power-play chances by Portland’s second-ranked man advantage and opened the scoring 14 minutes 14 seconds into the game.

Jake Chiasson skated into the Winterhawks zone off the rush and sent a pass across to the middle to Danielson, who had streaked in on the other wing and was left all alone to direct the puck past Spunar.

“It was sort of a two-on-one,” Danielson said. “I saw Jake coming up the left side of the ice and the D-man on the right side was a forward so I thought I would be able to get a step on him. Jake gave me an unbelievable pass and I sort of slipped it right through the five-hole.”

Portland’s speedy forwards nearly tied the game midway through the second period on a two-on-one after a neutral zone turnover, but Gabe Klassen fanned on the shot as Brandon starting goalie Carson Bjarnason slid across the net.

A couple of minutes later, Brandon hit a post on their second power play, but that’s as close as they came.

The Wheat Kings scored on the next man advantage, but it wasn’t theirs.

Portland went to the power play 14:19 into the period and Danielson gained possession in his own end and chugged up the ice as Hyland raced up the middle.

In a near mirror image of his goal, Danielson fired a pass into the middle and Hyland got his stick on it and sent it past Spunar’s blocker for a shorthanded goal to give the hosts a 2-0 lead.

“I looked over and saw him coming up the ice,” Danielson said. “I thought I’d make a play over to him. He’s been hot lately so you give the hot guy the puck.”

Three minutes later, Danielson rushed the puck into the Winterhawks end and his shot bounced back out to Mantei, who leaned into a slapshot from the top of the circle and put it off the inside of the post and into the net to give Brandon a three-goal lead.

The third period was a very different story as the Winterhawks pressed for the comeback by putting 17 shots on net.

“I didn’t think we played a real smart third,” Murray said. “We got in some penalty trouble and Barney made some big saves down the stretch.”

Portland finally scored early in the third period on a two-man breakaway — Wheat Kings defenceman Logen Hammett stumbled on a two-on-one — when Stefan fed O’Brien and he tucked the puck between the post and Bjarnason’s outstretched pad to make it 3-1 with 16 minutes remaining in regulation.

The goal brought a loud cheer from a large delegation of friends and family of Portland’s six Manitoba players.

Just 33 seconds later, Chiasson took a double minor for high sticking, and before the penalties ended, Mason Ward was assessed a delay-of-game penalty for shooting the puck over the glass, sending Portland to an 87-second five-on-three.

Just after the double minor ended but still on a five-on-four man advantage, Stefan blasted a shot into the net on the short side to bring the visitors back within a goal.

The Winterhawks pulled Spunar with over two minutes remaining, and Brandon simply couldn’t clear the zone as Portland moved the puck around and took shot after shot. Ward was whistled down for another penalty with 58.1 seconds remaining, sending Portland to its seventh power play and allowing them several more high-end chances.

They had one last opportunity with a draw in the Brandon end with 4.1 seconds remaining, but Bjarnason stuck out his glove to make his 34th save of the night with 0.9 seconds left for the victory.

“I think the team is growing a lot of confidence right now,” Danielson said. “We’ve learned how to close these games out, where early in the season we weren’t doing it. We have the confidence that with a one-goal lead we can close it out, and we have Barney back there, who is a huge piece of that.”

Brandon went 0-for-4 on the power play, with Portland scoring once in seven chances.

“We had some big-time kills, guys laying it out and blocking shots,” Murray said. “Ultimately your best penalty killer is your goaltender and Barney made some big saves when they got some opportunities.”

Spunar was also solid for the Winterhawks, making 22 saves as he suffered just his second regulation loss of the season.

Portland head coach and general manager Mike Johnston said Brandon had the benefit of a good first period, and his team wasn’t able to convert on some fine opportunities.

“We needed to capitalize on our two-on-one chances that we had and we didn’t,” Johnston said. “I just didn’t think we were sharp early, I thought they were a lot sharper than us early in the game.

“I thought our game got going probably about the midway point of the second period and I thought we started to get a little bit better but early in the game they were the better team.”

ICINGS: Brandon skated without injured forwards Ben Thornton (upper body, week to week), Caleb Hadland (lower body, week to week) and defencemen Andrei Malyavin (week to week, upper body) and Eastyn Mannix (healthy scratch) … The Wheat Kings visit the Prince Albert Raiders at the Art Hauser Centre tonight and host the Seattle Thunderbirds on Tuesday’s trade deadline day … Saskatoon Blades associate general manager Steve Hildebrand was fined $500 for his actions following Tuesday’s 3-2 overtime loss to the Calgary Hitmen, and Colton Langkow of the Vancouver Giants received a four-game suspension for a kneeing major and game misconduct he took against the Victoria Royals on Dec. 30 … Ritchie led the Wheat Kings with seven shots on net … The game took two hours, 17 minutes to play … In the faceoff circle, Brandon won 27-22.

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