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Rebels crash Oil Kings party on opening night

They were like Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn, minus the wedding.

Rebels 4 Oil Kings 1

EDMONTON — They were like Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn, minus the wedding.

The Red Deer Rebels were party crashers Friday, spoiling the Edmonton Oil Kings’ Western Hockey League home- and season-opener with a 4-1 win before 6,320 fans at Rexall Place.

The two clubs meet again tonight in the Rebels’ home-opener at 7:30 p.m. at the Centrium.

“It was nice to come in here and silence the fans,” said Rebels defenceman Alex Petrovic. “Right off the dot we had to get going and set the pace, and I thought we did that tonight.”

Indeed, the Rebels struck for three goals in the opening 11 minutes and never looked back.

Rookie defenceman Matt Dumba opened the scoring with an unassisted beauty, creating a turnover at the Edmonton blueline and beating Oil Kings netminder Cam Lanigan high to the glove side at 6:32.

“Red Deer has a very good hockey team and when you turn the puck over in the neutral zone they’re going to make you pay,” said Oil Kings head coach Derek Laxdal.

Barely two minutes had elapsed when Ryan Nugent-Hopkins connected on a power play, his shot from the right faceoff circle finding the back of the net.

Tyson Ness then potted his first-ever WHL goal at 10:49, collecting a rebound at the edge of the crease and ripping the puck into a gaping cage.

“The message for our kids was to come out very focused and prepared. I really liked our first period,” said Rebels head coach/VP of hockey operations Jesse Wallin. “We went after them early and established our forecheck.”

Following a scoreless second period, Andrej Kudrna upped the count to 4-0 with a man-advantage goal at 1:09 of the final frame.

Michael St. Croix notched the lone Edmonton marker at 5:47, beating Rebels stopper Darcy Kuemper with a one-timer from 30 feet out.

After dominating the opening frame, the Rebels appeared to back off and were outshot 19-14 through the remaining 40 minutes, although the final outcome was never really in doubt.

“We backed in a bit in the third period and I’d just like to see us maintain that level of intensity tomorrow night that we showed early tonight,” said Wallin.

“It’s important that we start developing good habits right away.

“That being said, it was a big win, a huge two points to open the season. Now we have to build off that and get better for tomorrow night.”

Laxdal called the evening “frustrating”, and didn’t feel his club was quick or forceful enough for the game to end with a different result.

“We didn’t have the speed or intensity we needed to have in the first period, although I thought that started to come as the game went on,” he said.

The Rebels were two-for-six on the power play and held the Oil Kings scoreless on seven man-advantage opportunities.

“I liked our special teams. For a road game, we showed well in that department,” said Wallin.

“That’s a big win to get under our belts,” said Petrovic. It gives us a lot of momentum going into tomorrow.”

Kuemper finished with 26 saves and looked comfortable thoughout the game. Lanigan also stopped 26 shots for Edmonton.

Notes – Rebels forward Josh Cowen sat out the first of his two-game league suspension that was levied following a playoff incident last spring . . . Healthy Red Deer scratches were goaltender Kraymer Barnstable, defencemen Lucas Grayson, Brad Deagle and Brad Haber, and forward Marc McCoy. Forward Locke Muller is out four to six weeks with a broken hand . . . Mark Pysyk, the Oil Kings’ top defenceman, is still with the Buffalo Sabres but is expected to return to Edmonton soon.