Rebels 4 Blades 1
In Jesse Wallin’s eyes, the real Red Deer Rebels stepped up to the plate Saturday at the Centrium.
“That’s the team we’ve been through the better part of the last few weeks,” said the Rebels GM/head coach, following his club’s 4-1 WHL win over the Saskatoon Blades before a gathering of 5,015.
The Rebels were somewhat slow out of the gate, outshot 14-7 and surrendering a power-play goal — Brett Stovin’s 11th of the season.
But the home side ruled the rest of the way, outshooting the Blades 32-10 over the final 40 minutes while notching a single marker in the second period and three more in the final stanza.
“We had a good start but got back on our heels after they scored and then gave up a few more opportunities,” said Wallin.
“Bolton (starting netminder Pouliot) held us in with a couple of big savcs and from there we just got better and better.”
The Rebels pretty much dominated the middle frame, but got just a single goal — a short-handed marker by Chad Robinson, who converted a nifty pass from Mathew Dumba on a two-on-one break.
“We were moving our feet in the second period and creating chances off of the forecheck,” said Wallin. “We drew some penalties, got some power-play opportunities and created some scoring chances, but just couldn’t get a puck by (Blades netminder Andrey Makarov).”
Indeed, the Rebels fired blanks while on the power play over the last four minutes of the middle frame, but finally broke through with a man advantage when captain Adam Kambeitz connected at 4:24 of the third period.
“The third period was our best period. We had a great forecheck and finished a lot of checks,” said Wallin.
“It was just a real solid effort from everybody. We need that kind of performance from every player and we got that tonight.”
Rebels defenceman Mathew Dumba put the cap on the victory with an empty-net goal at 19:19, just seconds after the Blades had banked a shot off the goal post and watched the puck roll through the crease.
One night after falling 4-0 to the Swift Current Broncos at the Centrium, the Rebels were a more determined team Saturday.
“We were challenged by Jesse in a meeting this morning,” said Kambeitz.
“The challenge for us was to respond from our effort last night.
“The guys came out and responded well to that. We rallied together tonight and got better as the game went on.
“It was awesome.”
Pouliot was stellar for the Rebels, making 23 saves while posting his first-ever win at the Centrium. Makarov stopped 35 shots for the Blades.
The Rebels, who host the Calgary Hitmen Tuesday, are eight points out of a playoff berth in the Eastern Conference with seven regular-season games remaining.
gmeachem@www.reddeeradvocate.com