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Rebels edge Hitmen

Resilience was the Red Deer Rebels’ greatest weapon Friday night at the Centrium.
Rebels-versus-Hitmen
Red Deer Rebel Evan Polei is hooked by Calgary Hitmen Radel Fazleev during first-period action at the Centrium Friday.

Resilience was the Red Deer Rebels’ greatest weapon Friday night at the Centrium.

The Rebels took the play to the Calgary Hitmen through most of the opening frame and came out with a 2-0 lead, then watched the visitors turn the tables in the middle frame and fire a pair of unanswered goals.

But in the end, Red Deer came away with a clutch 3-2 Western Hockey League win thanks to Jake DeBrusk’s 19th marker of the season late in the third.

“In the second period we just played on our heels,” said Rebels GM/head coach Brent Sutter, whose squad was outshot 13-5 in the 20-minute stretch. “We did it to ourselves. They (Hitmen) worked and played hard and took it to us.”

The Rebels boss rattled off a list of second-period inadequacies that would spell trouble for any team.

“We got away from our game, we didn’t work and we didn’t do things the right way,” said Sutter. “We were cheating, we were sloppy, we had neutral-zone turnovers and had no forecheck.”

It was a far cry from the Rebels’ first-period performance, which featured two goals from Adam Helewka, the second being his 36th of the season.

The veteran forward beat Cody Porter with a rising shot from the left faceoff circle barely two minutes into the contest, then, with Red Deer on the power play, picked the far corner from the other circle at the 12-minute mark.

“Our first period was really good and then we dropped our guard a bit in the second,” said Sutter. “The third was back and forth, a pretty even period.

“We got a chance and capitalized on it, that’s what it takes. It was like a playoff game here tonight.”

The Hitmen stormed out of the gate following the first intermission and pulled even before the midway point of the period. Pavel Karnaukov cashed a power-play rebound at 6:32 and Carsen Twarynski potted an equalizer just over two minutes later.

Sutter called a timeout at that point and the Rebels at least partially regrouped and got out of the period on even terms.

The clubs were stride-for-stride in the final frame and it came down to a late goal — with 4:15 remaining — from DeBrusk, who knocked the puck out of the air and past Porter following a point blast from Colton Bobyk.

“The goal was just a hockey play off the draw,” said DeBrusk. “I knew it was going back to Bobs and I knew I had to go to the net. I just waited for it to come down off the crossbar and put it in. It felt good and felt even better to get a win.”

The visitors, with Porter on the bench, applied pressure with the clock ticking down and, with about five seconds remaining, had a shot go off the post and out the other side behind Rebels goaltender Trevor Martin.

“The one thing I noticed tonight and even in Swift Current (during a 5-2 win over the Broncos Tuesday) is when they scored a couple of quick ones, we didn’t panic,” said DeBrusk. “It was a new game and we had to win the next 30 (minutes). That’s how we looked at it.”

The victory was Red Deer’s second over the Hitmen in five meetings this season and gave the Rebels a seven-point lead over their Highway 2 opponents for second place in the Central Division. The clubs meet again Sunday in Calgary in what could very well be another first-round playoff preview.

“We’ve had our struggles with Calgary, that’s for sure,” said DeBrusk. “I was really confident with our first period, I thought we played really well. In the second we took our foot off the gas and they came hard at us, which is what good teams do.”

Martin was stellar from start to finish while kicking out 31 shots.

“He made some big saves and we obviously got a break in the last few seconds where it hit the post and came out the other side,” said Sutter.

“But again, it’s about momentum. We had it in the first, they took it from us in the second and in the third it was down to one chance. But we have to learn from the second period, too.”

l Porter made 24 saves and rookie Kyle Dumba — the brother of former Rebels defenceman Mathew — stopped both shots he faced during a brief appearance late in the opening period … Conner Bleackley, out since January with a lower-body injury, returned to the Red Deer lineup and drew the lone assist on Helewka’s first goal … Forward Luke Philp was scratched due to an illness … Attendance was 6,674.

gmeachem@www.reddeeradvocate.com