The Red Deer Rebels got back in the win column in style on Monday.
Rebels beat Prince George Cougars 4-0 with Riley Lamb making 25 saves for the shutout on the road.
Dawson Barteaux opened the scoring on the powerplay at 10:05 in the first, scoring his third. Brandon Hagel and Grayson Pawlenchuk assisted.
Alexander Alexeyev scored his seventh at 19:01 of the second, with Brandon Hagel and Riley Lamb adding the helpers.
In the third Mason McCarty scored his 29th at 1:54 on the powerplay, with Brandon Hagel and Dawson Barteaux assisting. Kristian Reichel, with his 24th goal, rounded out the scoring at 7:59 with Brandon Hagel and Alexander Alexeyev assisting.
The Rebels nine-game point streak came to a crashing halt Saturday against the Edmonton Oil Kings.
The Oil Kings came back to earn the 4-3 victory and hand the Rebels their first regulation loss since Jan. 20 and their first defeat in regulation on the road since Jan. 7.
“Obviously it wasn’t one of our better games. Too many mistakes. Too many things that you can’t do at this time of the year and have success,” Rebels GM/head coach Brent Sutter said.
“We had our moments, but the details in our game weren’t very good today.”
It was a rare Saturday afternoon contest for the Rebels in Edmonton, and through 40 minutes both teams struggled to find their legs.
The only goal in the opening two periods came on a gaffe from Rebels netminder Ethan Anders, who misplayed a pass that landed right on the stick of Liam Keeler.
Early in the third the Rebels woke up and scored 23 seconds apart to take the lead.
Austin Schellberg batted home a rebound and Brandon Cutler wired a shot off the post and in.
Less than three minutes later, David Kope tipped home a point shot to tie the game at two.
Colton Kehler notched a power play goal after a great pass from Trey Fix-Wolansky midway through the frame to give Edmonton a brief advantage.
The flurry continued late in the frame after an Alex Morozoff tripping minor for Red Deer. Down a man with 2:09 to play, Reese Johnson grabbed a puck in the neutral zone and raced down the ice before firing a wrist shot high glove side on Oil Kings goalie Josh Dechaine. He finished the afternoon with 29 saves.
Fix-Wolansky put the final nail in the point streak with a goal on the power play with just seven seconds left in the game. The veteran winger deflected a shot from Kehler with his skate to earn the victory for the Oil Kings.
“We were soft around our net and they scored to tie it up (at two),” Sutter said.
“We take a penalty it puts you down 4-on-3 and the last goal, we don’t have the coverage in front of our net. The first goal was an awful decision from Andy to do what he did. We basically gift wrapped four goals for them.”
Red Deer failed to convert on all five power plays in the game. Assistant captain Brandon Hagel took a roughing minor with 12 minutes to play but was also handed a 10-minute misconduct late in the third period.
“It’s preparation and not being focused like you need to be focused,” Sutter said of the misstep from his club Saturday.
The Rebels are in Prince George Monday afternoon to take on the Cougars.
Email sports tips to Byron Hackett
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