Rebels 4 Hitmen 1
The Red Deer Rebels continued their winning ways with a victory over division rival Calgary Hitmen in Western Hockey League action.
They extended their winning streak to four games with a 4-1 win over the Hitmen at the Centrium Friday night.
“We played hard. I thought we had good legs and we moved our feet. At times I thought we needed to be stronger on pucks in our own zone, but I thought our forecheck was good and we put a lot of pucks on net,” said Rebels GM/head coach Brent Sutter. “I thought Lamber made some huge saves at key times, too.”
Hitmen’s forward Jakob Stukel started the scoring just over a minute into the game, but Rebels responded less than four minutes later when rookie defenceman Alexander Alexeyev scored his first WHL goal to tie it at 1-1.
“Our team needs to work and get production from different guys on different nights and that’s just the way it is. It’s always nice to see everybody get on the board every now and then,” said Sutter.
Michael Spacek scored his sixth goal of the season five minutes later on a laser from inside the faceoff circle, giving the Rebels a 2-1 lead.
The Rebels had a golden opportunity early in the third period to pad their lead after the Hitmen were charged with back-to-back delay of game penalties, but failed to capitalize on the 5-on-3.
After killing off a couple of penalties of their own later on in the third period, the Rebels took advantage of their third power play of the game.
Colton Bobyk fired a rocket from the point, beating Hitmen goalie Cody Porter for his fourth goal of the season and giving the Rebels a 3-1 lead.
“Like I told him after he scored his goal tonight, 95 per cent of the time he shoots on the net he’ll score. His shot is a big part of his game. We play him on the power play a lot and we use him on 5-on-5 a lot. He just has to continue to improve in that area,” said Sutter.
Brandon Hagel added an empty net goal late in the third period for his second tally of the year.
Rebels finished the night 1-for-5 on the power play and out shot the Hitmen 41-32.
Spacek extended his point streak to seven games (6 goals, 4 assists) while Bobyk extended his point streak to five games (4 goals, 4 assists).
Rebels play again tomorrow night as they welcome the Prince Albert Raiders for their eighth annual Sockey Night in Canada. Game time is at 7.p.m.
Note: Attendance was 4,809.
jonathan.guignard@www.reddeeradvocate.com