The Red Deer Rebels were determined not to let another lead get away Sunday afternoon.
In WHL action, the Rebels travelled to Calgary for their third game in three nights and locked down a 7-2 victory against the surging Hitmen.
Red Deer allowed six unanswered goals Saturday night at home and with a 4-0 lead late in the second period Sunday, let a pair of goals in to allow Calgary back in the game.
Instead of folding up like one night previous, the Rebels powered through the adversity and scored three times in the third to close out the win.
The win for Red Deer opened up a bit of breathing room in the WHL Central Division race for third place. With the loss Calgary sits four points behind the Rebels for third in the central and have two games in hand.
Lane Zablocki continued to roll for Red Deer, scoring twice more Sunday after two goals on Saturday night.
He’s got seven goals in his last five games and was first star for the three-point performance. The Wetaskiwin native has 25 goals this season and 16 since joining the Rebels at the trade deadline.
Carson Sass, Austin Glover, Michael Spacek, Austin Pratt and Evan Polei all added goals for the Rebels in the win.
Captain Adam Musil was also all over the ice, tallying three assists on the night and was second star.
Red Deer scored 25 seconds apart in the first, when Zablocki tapped in a passing play at the side of the net, before Carson Sass wired a wrist shot from the point through a screen past Hitmen netminder Trevor Martin.
Polei scored his 28th to make it 3-0 in the second, before Spacek added his 27th of the year midway through the frame.
The Hitmen pushed back late in the period, when Matteo Gennaro scored streaking down the wing and Jakob Stukel added a goal with 43 seconds left in the frame.
Zablocki and Glover scored 49 seconds apart in the third to all but ice it for Red Deer.
The Rebels finished the game two for six on the power play.
Riley Lamb made 22 saves in the win.
It’s a six day break for the Rebels, they will be back on the ice March 4 when they host the Swift Current Broncos.