Despite an early 3-0 lead, the Red Deer Rebels needed every bit of runway to earn a victory over the Calgary Hitmen Wednesday night.
Red Deer prevailed 5-4 in overtime at the Scotiabank Saddledome, with defenceman Hunter Mayo burying his second goal of the night 2:22 into the extra frame.
After a strong cycle, Mayo walked the blueline and fired a laser from the top of the circle that beat Hitmen netminder Eric Tu blocker side. Mayo leads all WHL defenceman with five goals on the year.
"He's having a good year so far. He's doing really good things without the puck as well, that's what giving him opportunities with it," Rebels head coach Dave Struch said.
While Struch loved the play of his top blueliner, he didn't love the undisciplined play of his squad. The Rebels took seven minor penalties in the win and the Hitmen scored on three power play chances. Still, Red Deer found a way to get two points and the head coach acknowledged as much.
"Our discipline faltered. Penalty kill wasn't very good," Struch said.
"Five-on-five play was fantastic. We got off to a good start which is one of the things we've spoken about here and we got after it. Moved our feet, finished our checks. Everything that we worked on this week in practice we carried out here."
Cohen Poulin continues to shine in the early part of the season for the Rebels. He opened the scoring on a reboud 5:15 into the first, his fourth tally of the year.
Newly signed Jaxon Fuder, in just his fourth WHL game, scored his first career goal with 50 seconds left in the first. The 18-year-old joined the Rebels from the BCHL earlier this month. Talon Brigley forced a turnover down low in the Hitmen end and drove the net, before firing a backhand pass cross crease to Fuder, who made no mistake for his first marker in the WHL.
Mayo scored his first of the night on the power play at 3:13 of the second and things started to fall apart quickly from there for the visitors. Ben Kindel scored his first of two goals of the night, before cutting the deficit to a goal on the power play at 12:46 of the frame. Ottawa Senators draft pick Carter Yakemchuk tied the game on another Hitmen power play 2:12 into the third.
The Hitmen's high-end skill was on display during the comeback.
"We know that going in. We had an opportunity to put foot to throat and we didn't do it. In the second period, they came at us. We knew there was going to be a push," Struch said.
"Third period, I thought we played well. When we started in the penalty box early, they took advantage of that and you have to chase a little bit. The grit and determination – we talk about it all the time, 60-plus minutes gave us a win."
Defenceman Luke Vlooswyk restored the Rebels lead 4:33 into the third, a rocket through traffic that eluded Tu. It was Vlooswyk's first goal of the year and second career WHL goal.
A Matthew Gard roughing call put the Rebels on the PK again midway through the third and Carson Wetsch buried for the Hitmen to tie the game at four.
Chase Wutzke was solid in the victory, turning aside 33 shots, while Tu stopped 32 in the loss for the Hitmen.
After three straight losses, Struch said the win was a nice bounce back by his club.
"It's something that when you look back at this little losing streak, we've talked about how well we did play, with the exception of last game in Edmonton. It feels good to get back there."
Red Deer will be back on home ice Saturday when they square off with the Saskatoon Blades at 7 p.m., before hosting the Edmonton Oil Kings in a Sunday matinee, with puck drop set for 4 p.m.
