The Red Deer Rebels opened up a four-game road swing with a 3-2 loss to the Saskatoon Blades on Friday night in WHL action.
The Rebels dropped their sixth in a row with the loss and are just 1-5-3-1 in their last 10 games.
Braylon Shmyr opened the scoring for Saskatoon with 41 seconds left in the first, but the Rebels bounced back midway through the second when Reese Johnson scored his 12th of the year.
Rookie Alex Morozoff, a 16-year-old forward just added to the Rebels roster on Friday scored his first WHL goal in his first game on the power play in the second period. The Saskatoon, Sask. native played most of the season with the Saskatoon Contacts in the Saskatchewan Midget AAA League and was selected by the Rebels in the seventh round of the 2016 WHL Bantam Draft.
Only three minutes after the Morozoff marker, Bradley Goethals notched his ninth of the year for the Blades to tie the game at two.
Blades defenceman Jake Kustra buried the game winner with under 10 minutes to play in the third.
Saskatoon picked up their sixth straight win in the contest and 16-year-old goalie Nolan Maier won his ninth straight start. He stopped 22 shots to earn the victory. Riley Lamb turned aside 24 in the Rebels net.
Mason McCarty missed the game due to illness for the Rebels.
The Rebels newest addition, defenceman Colin Paradis, who they acquired earlier in the day for Brandon Schuldhaus along with two second round draft picks, wasn’t in the lineup but is expected to join the team Saturday.
Red Deer is back on the ice Saturday night in Prince Albert to take on the Raiders. Puck drop is 6 p.m.
Email sports tips to Byron Hackett
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