Sunday night the Lethbridge Hurricanes resembled the team fans were accustomed to seeing all season, as they thumped the Red Deer Rebels 5-2. The ‘Canes lit the lamp five straight times to start the game to level their WHL opening round playoff series at 1-1. The ‘Canes learned from their game one loss, never relenting after taking the early lead.
“I thought we stuck with it better tonight,” Hurricanes Head Coach Brent Kisio said. “Last night when things went wrong we kind of lost our composure a little bit, I thought tonight we stayed real composed. We handled the situation better.”
‘Canes forward Ryan Bowen opened the scoring midway through the first period, when he deflected in a Brennen Riddle point shot. The goal started an avalanche of chances for the ‘Canes who added three goals in the second, and one more in the third. Much of the damage was levied by Russia sniper Egor Babenko who scored three times on the night, including a hat trick goal in the final frame.
“I feel awesome,” Hurricanes forward Egor Babenko said. “All the guys did a great job, a huge win for us. Our fans support us, we couldn’t lose a second game at home.”
The Rebels added a couple goals in the third period, but the game was already out of reach. It was a much needed bounce back performance from the Hurricanes on a night where their depth shone through.
“We dominated them tonight,” Hurricanes Captain Tyler Wong said. “We knew we were going to need a full 60 minute effort. We had a lot of secondary scoring tonight. That’s how you’re going to win in playoffs, you’re going to need guys to step up.”
After a split on home-ice the series now shifts to Red Deer for game three.
“I think we just need to reset again,” Wong said. “Tomorrow we need to get some rest, we need to keep energy levels up and stay fresh. We can’t get too high, we’re happy right now, but we have to find a way to come back even harder on Wednesday.”
Game three of the best of seven series is on Wednesday 7: 00 p.m. in Red Deer.
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