The Red Deer Rebels kicked off this week's four-game road trip with a pair of wins.
Goaltender Chase Wutzke stopped 41 of 43 shots to lift the Rebels to a 3-2 victory over the Prince Albert Raiders on Tuesday, Dec. 3.
Derek Thurston scored his second goal of the season to put Red Deer on the board 5:47 into the second period. Riley Boychuk tied the game at one just a couple minutes later.
Red Deer managed to score two goals in the final period while Prince Albert scored just one, despite the Raiders outshooting the Rebels 22-6. Red Deer forward Samuel Drancak scored his third of the season 3:18 into the final frame and Rebels defenceman Hunter Mayo scored the eventual game-winner a few minutes later.
Raiders forward Tomas Mrsic scored his 17th of the season with about three minutes remaining, but that's as close as Prince Alberta got.
"Chase Wutzke made the saves at the right time," said head coach David Struch.
"Our power play was big and our penalty kill was big. Everything we've spoke about over the last five or six weeks, we're doing more of those things right. The guys are feeling good about it. They've got some confidence from playing a simple, consistent, hard game."
Wutzke was named the game's No. 1 star, while Hunter Mayo was second and Riley Boychuk was third.
The Rebels then picked up a shootout win over the Saskatoon Blades the following night with a dramatic third-period comeback effort. Red Deer trailed 3-1 heading into the third period, with Beckett Hamilton being the only Rebel to score in the first two periods.
Kalan Lind scored his first of the season 3:13 into the third period. Then Mayo scored his 10th of the year about three minutes later to tie the game at three.
Thurston put Red Deer on top 14:12 into the third, but Tyler Parr answered back for Saskatoon with 1:19 left on the clock, to push the game into overtime — neither team could find the back of the net in overtime, resulting in a shootout being needed to decide the winner. Rebels forward Matthew Gard, who assisted on the Thurston tally, scored the shootout winner.
"We didn't come ready to play at the start," said Rebels assistant coach Clayton Beddoes.
"I think the way we play the game, it grinds teams a little bit and wears them down. The last four or five games, we've just progressively get better and better throughout the game, even when we get a good start. By the end of the game we've been coming out on top."
Red Deer will travel to Brandon on Friday, Dec. 7 to take on the Wheat Kings. On Saturday, Dec. 7, the Rebels will make their way to Swift Current to battle the Broncos.
