Wings Take 3 Points Out of Nipawin in Weekend Double Header
Jakob Kalin fires a shot from the left side of the ice on the rush as the Red Wings fall 4-3 in the shootout.
After putting up a dominant performance in the Friday night game, the Richardson Pioneer Weyburn Red Wings faced off with a Nipawin Hawks squad motivated to split the weekend series. Both teams would take the lead in the game, but the Hawks would get the shootout win 4-3.
In the first period, the Hawks would score first just short of seven minutes in when Rylan Lefebvre would fire a shot from the middle of the slot through traffic to give the Hawks a 1-0 lead.
Less than two minutes later, the Hawks on the powerplay would score again as Maguire Ratzlaff fired one in from the middle of the ice, but the puck would come directly out of the net and no goal was called. Play would continue for another minute before play would come to a stop. The officials would deliberate for quite some time before the goal was called and time was reset on the clock to 11:55.
After that, the Red Wings would get a powerplay and build some momentum, and shortly after the man advantage ended Carter Wickenheiser would score his first of the season on the rush as he fired a wrist shot over the glove side, Sam Boldt picking up his seventh assist on the play.
With less than three minutes to play in the period, Jakob Kalin would go on the rush down the left side of the ice and he’d fire a shot glove side, and Jackson Fellner in net just caught enough glove that it popped up into the air and dropped into the crease, and Matteo Turrin crashed the net to score his third goal as a Red Wing in three games.
After 1: Red Wings 2 – 2 Hawks, shots 14-8 Hawks
In the second period, there wasn’t any scoring but a long list of penalties. Jackson Hassman was given a checking to the head penalty that saw him get ejected from the game, and Matt Reidy was given a 10 minute misconduct somewhere in the middle of it as well.
Any play where the Red Wings tried to protect their goalie from incoming forecheckers saw offsetting minors or a Red Wings penalty. Eric Kahl in net made some incredible saves in the period, and the Red Wings powerplay would get two opportunities of their own in the back half of the period, but nothing gets in the back of the net.
After 2: Red Wings 2 – 2 Hawks, shots 9-6 Hawks in the period, 23-14 Hawks overall
Both teams got powerplays in the opening half of the third, and Ty Mason rifled a shot off the cross bar on the man advantage, but it would stay tied before the halfway mark.
Jakob Kalin would then score a great goal at the end of a shift, he slowly left the zone from the right side and looked for a pass across ice, and all the Hawks shifted towards that side seeing Matteo Turrin streaking up the left. That opened a big lane for Kalin, who turned on the jets and burned down the right side before unleashing a hard wrist shot over the glove side to score his seventh of the season and give the Red Wings their first lead of the game, with Payton McDonald-Corea picking up his second assist as a Wing.
Just over a minute later though and a shot from the point by Hawks defenceman Eric Robbie would find its way through traffic into the back of the net, and the game would be tied. The Hawks would hit a post of their own before the end of the period, and this game would go to overtime.
After 3: Red Wings 3 – 3 Hawks, shots 13-12 Hawks in the period, 36-26 Hawks overall
In overtime, Matt Reidy would again ring iron for the Red Wings while both goaltenders made some big stops to keep the game tied and head to the shootout.
In the first round, Ty Mason was robbed on a great save by Fellner catching just his skate blade before the Hawks would score with their first shooter, Kalin couldn’t score in the second round. Ethan Whillans would score in the third to take it to an extra round, but Matteo Turrin was stopped while the Hawks Carson Dobson would ice the game in the fourth round.
FINAL: Red Wings 3 – 4 Hawks (SO), shots 5-3 Red Wings in overtime, 39-31 Hawks overall
Eric Kahl has bounced back from his initial start for the Red Wings against the Kindersley Klippers. He was pulled in that game after 9 shots, and since then has posted 43/46 saves in Melfort and 36/39 saves in Nipawin, good enough for a 92.9% save percentage in his last two starts.