The Red Deer Rebels came up short in their pursuit of a second straight win Wednesday in WHL action.
After snapping a six game losing streak on Tuesday in Victoria, the Rebels couldn’t pull out another victory on Wednesday against the Vancouver Giants. The Giants locked up the 4-2 win with two third period tallies.
James Malm opened the scoring for Vancouver on the power play at 7:48 of the first.
Kristian Reichel tipped a point shot in for his ninth goal of the year to tie the game, with only 30 seconds left in the opening frame. The Litvinov, Czech Republic native leads all WHL rookies in goal scoring and is second in points with 22.
Brandon Cutler scored from the goal line at 6:17 of the second, when he banked the puck in off Giants netminder David Tendeck. The goal was his first of the season and only the second of the 17-year-old’s WHL career.
Giants forward Brandon Watts tied the game midway through the second after dodging a few Rebels’ defenders and firing a wrist shot past Rebels goalie Ethan Anders.
Malm cashed in his second goal with just over seven minutes left in the game.
Ty Ronning iced the victory with his 20th goal of the year into an empty net.
Anders stopped 27 shots but was handed his 10th career WHL loss.
With the loss, the Rebels record dropped to 9-12-2 on the year and but they still sit second in the Central Division.
Red Deer will play their final road game of the B.C. trip Friday in Cranbrook against the Kootenay Ice and then finally play their first home game since Nov. 1 on Saturday night.
Email sports tips to Byron Hackett
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