BRANDON -- The Brandon Wheat Kings put their power play to good use against the Moose Jaw Warriors on Saturday night in Brandon, and it would be the difference on the scoreboard.
The Wheat Kings scored three times on the power play and would go on to a 6-2 victory in Western Hockey League action.
The loss knocked Moose Jaw to 11-37-4-2 as the Warriors remain in 11th in the Eastern Conference, while Brandon improved to 28-16-4-3 and now have points in their last eight games.
The Wheat Kings got things going quickly, scoring on one of the first shifts of the game when Dominik Petr redirected a pass to the front of the crease into the net for the game’s opening goal at the 1:09 mark.
Brandon then took advantage of the first power play of the game to extend their lead to two five minutes later. Nicholas Johnson was able to set up in front of the net and he’d tip a point shot by Petr home with 6:55 gone in the period.
The Warriors ended up having a handful of chances as the period progressed and outshot Brandon 14-11 in the opening frame, but would be unable to find the back of the net.
The Wheat Kings then extended the lead to 3-0 with their second power play goal at the 7:08 mark of second. Joby Baumuller got off a quick one-timer on a pass from behind the net and his shot would slip through goaltender Josh Banini’s five-hole.
The score could have favoured Brandon even more over the next couple minutes, but Banini would make a handful of big saves to keep things from getting out of hand.
The Warriors got one back with 3:13 to play in the second, with Nolan Paquette taking a cross-ice pass from Ethan Semeniuk and putting a perfect shot from the high slot top shelf blocker side to make it a 3-1 game.
There things would remain until 4:49 remained in the second, when Carter Klippenstein extended the lead to three with Brandon’s third power play goal of the game. The goal appeared to have been kicked in, but a quick goal review confirmed the marker.
The Warriors wouldn’t go away, though, and Aiden Ziprick made it a 4-2 game with 11:14 to play in regulation, scoring on a shot from the point on the Warriors’ fifth power play opportunity of the game.
Moose Jaw had chances to make things even closer as the period progressed and pulled Banini for the extra attacker with nearly four minutes remaining, but Baumuller scored an empty netter with 3:28 remaining to put the game out of reach.
Johnson added his second of the game with 2:14 to play to close out scoring, and Brandon had their 6-2 win.
Banini was outstanding despite giving up six goals, facing 52 shots on the night and making a host of huge saves as the game progressed. The Warriors had 41 shots on Eskit, including 21 in the final period.
The Warriors are back in action on Monday night when they host the Prince Albert Raiders, with puck drop at 7 p.m. at the Moose Jaw Events Centre.
