After two straight games against the Weyburn Red Wings at home, the Kindersley Jr. Klippers left the Air Hanger at the West Central Events Centre to see if they could keep the good times rolling on the road Friday night against Weyburn for the third straight time. It took a bit for the Klippers to shake out the bus legs, but their offence exploded in the third period for a 4-0 win to start a three games in three nights stretch.
The first two minutes were a little slow for the Klippers despite having a powerplay in the first couple minutes thanks to a crosscheck from Sam Skillestad. There wasn't much offence to be had at all in the beginning of the game as by the end of a second Klippers powerplay five minutes in, each team had only managed two shots.
The penalty kill has been a surprising momentum boost for the Klippers all season long, and that especially worked with a shorthanded Red Wings team that had all of their big guns on the ice when Cameron Rimstad went to the box for interference. After the penalty was killed, the Klippers started to find their stride shortly after the halfway mark of the period.
Closing in on 15 minutes into the period, and the Klippers would break the ice. Charles Obobaifo picked up a loose puck at centre and cut right across the blueline as he entered the zone. His pass found a streaking Liam Bell down the right side, he fired a shot that hit the near side post and popped out to the other side of the net and Carson Baylis crashing the net tapped in his first goal since October 16th.
With one more penalty in the period after, the Klippers killed off the Aiden Bangs tripping call quickly and finished the period off well.
After 1: Klippers 1 - 0 Red Wings, shots 7-4 Klippers
The second period was the quietest of the three. Three minutes into the period, a sign of things to come would happen when Andrew Blocker and Matthew Reidy both went to the box for roughing to give the second some 4-on-4, and with a little back and forth action the Klippers found their stride a little quicker this period, but not enough to score number two.
Matt Pesenti wasn't tested too much throughout the second period facing just five shots, but there was one cross crease opportunity for the Red Wings where he had to stretch the pad out for a solid save.
In the offensive zone, the Klippers had their biggest hit of the game when Ethan Hilbig ran over Cooper Chisholm along the side wall with a shoulder to the chest hit to fire up the bench.
After 2: Klippers 1 - 0 Red Wings, shots 8-5 Klippers in the period, 15-9 Klippers overall
The third period is where the Klippers exploded with their offense. It started just over a minute in when Andrew Blocker took a hit to the head at centre to give the Klippers a powerplay, and took out Wings' defenseman Nicholas Kovacs with a ten minute misconduct. Blocker would leave the game as a precaution, but should return to the lineup in the next game.
On the powerplay, the Klippers had a little trouble getting set up in the offensive zone, and the goal came on a break when the Klippers put the Red Wings on the forecheck. A Red Wings defender tried to carry the puck out from behind the net, but Coletyn Boyarski pokechecked him and the puck went right into the net for about as greasy of a powerplay goal as you could score.
29 seconds later, and it was 3-0. Andrew Schabb down the right side of the ice took a shot on Jackson Fellner, and the rebound popped out to Baylis who scored his second goal of the game in almost the exact same spot he scored in the first period to give the Klippers a big lead early in the third.
After a penalty kill from Nathan DeGraves' slashing penalty, the Klippers added another and while the other goals in the game were gritty, hard working rebound goals, this one was pretty. This time Baylis started the play on a 3-on-2 down the left side, and he dropped the pass back to the middle from Andrew Schabb, and he looked at the net, but then passed the puck right to Charles Obobaifo at the side of the net and tapped it into the back of the net for his first goal since December just under eight minutes in and about as perfect of a tic-tac-toe play you could ask for.
Still before the halfway mark of the period, tensions in the game boiled over when Coletyn Boyarski was ran from behind by Ethan Whillans. The whistle was blown immediately and a scrum formed around the two on the wall and punches started to fly. It looked like things were settling down when suddenly everything started up again and everyone picked a dance partner, including Boyarski who stood up after getting shoved head first into the boards and dropped the gloves with Ty Mason. Both men landed some clean shots, Mason maybe landed a couple more near the end, but Boyarski got the takedown after landing some solid shots of his own in one of the guttsiest displays you'll see on the ice.
After getting checked from behind by Ethan Whillans, Klippers forward Coletyn Boyarski stood up and started throwing hands with Ty Mason.The Klippers would finish the game without Boyarski, Blocker, and also Josh Morton after he was ejected for roughing during the scrum, but that left the Red Wings without Whillans for checking from behind, Kovacs still in the box for the head hit on Blocker, and Nolan Henderson who was ejected with Morton, plus the Red Wings had one Austyn Hansen in the box to serve the penalty, the Red Wings were down to just two forward lines and five defenceman to kill the five minute major.
The Klippers earned a ton of chances near the end of the powerplay including a post from Aiden Bangs, but the powerplay would come and go and the Klippers wouldn't be able to add another.
In the final minute, the Klippers would take a penalty to make protecting the shutout a little more interesting, and in the last five seconds of the game the Red Wings would fire a shot that beat Pesenti but not post, and he would finish the night with a 13 save shutout.
FINAL: Klippers 4 - 0 Red Wings, shots 16-4 Klippers in the period, 31-13 Klippers overall
Sat, Apr 20, 8:30 AM
