The Lethbridge Hurricanes opened the Western Hockey League playoffs on Friday night with a decisive 6-0 win over the Red Deer Rebels. The ‘Canes overcame a slow start and scored twice in the second and four more times in the third to rout the rival Rebels and capture a pivotal game one.
“It’s huge. This sets the tone early for what this series is going to play out like,” Hurricanes forward Jake Elmer said. “They were hard to play against, we were hard to play against. It’s a long series and we needed to set the tone and I think we did that”
After a grinding first period, pace picked up in the second. Three minutes into the frame the Hurricanes opened the scoring when Taylor Ross deflected in a Jordy Bellerive shot on the power play. Minutes later the home-side would strike again when Tate Olsen banged home a loose puck off a scramble play in front of Rebels goaltender Riley Lamb.
The game was still within reach in the third period, but that’s when the Hurricanes took over, scoring four times in ten minutes.
“We were a little nervous early, but got better and better as the game went on,” Hurricanes Head Coach Brent Kisio said. “Going into the third period I felt like we took the game over and played the right way.”
The third period onslaught was sparked by a beautiful goal off the rush six minutes into the frame. Elmer flew down the wing and centered to Brad Morrison who beat Lamb to make it 3-0. Bellerive, Barlage, and Elmer would all tally later in the period to give the ‘Canes six different goal scorers.
“In the last ten minutes we found our game,” Hurricanes Captain Jordy Bellerive said. “It was obviously a big start for us and it left a mark on them. But they’re going to be coming tomorrow and we have to be prepared to do it again.”
One player who was prepared right from puck-drop was ‘Canes goalie Logan Flodell. The Eastern Conference Goaltender of the year looked smooth in the Hurricanes net turning aside shots with relative ease.
“He was outstanding. And that’s the Flodell we’ve had the whole time since he’s been here,” Kisio said. “We’ve seen that a lot in the past with other teams. We rely on him. He’s one of the best goalies in the league and that’s why we have him.”
The Rebels had a chance to get back in the game in the third when Mason McCarty was sprung on a breakaway, but Flodell calmly turned him away to prevent Red Deer from gaining any kind of momentum. The Regina Saskatchewan native stopped all 30 shots fired in his direction.
“I was nervous of course at the start,” Flodell said. “But it’s just another game, you got to think of it like that. We could possible play another seven games, just got to take it day-by-day. It’s a lot of fun out there with the crowd. They made it a lot of fun to play in front of them… Our ‘D’ played extremely well boxing guys out.”
The ‘Canes were outshot 30-26 on the night, but capitalized on their chances and turned it on when the moments were most critical.
After a big win Hurricanes Coach Brent Kisio expects to see a tougher Red Deer team in game two.
“We know it’s going to be harder tomorrow,” Kisio said. “Red Deer is going to come out and play hard. They played hard tonight, but there will be a little bit extra in their gear tomorrow and we got to have extra too.”
Game two of the best-of-seven series is on Saturday in Lethbridge at 7:00 p.m.
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