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Last Updated: May 8th, 2008 - 20:33:00
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BRANDON, Man. — Pat Benatar coined the phrase while the Lethbridge Hurricanes put it into practice.
'Hit me with your best shot' was what the Hurricanes trotted out and though the Wheaties did just that, it was still the 'Canes skating away with a 4-3 victory, running their lead to 3-0 in their Eastern Conference quarter-final playoff series, Tuesday night at Westman Place.
“They came out the way we thought they'd come out, with a lot of energy and urgency and they had a great first period,” Hurricanes head coach Michael Dyck said, his team a game away from clinching its first playoff series victory in 11 years.
“For us it was all about how we responded in the second period and we came out with a little more composure and got back to our game.”
Rallying from a 1-0 first period deficit, the third straight game in which Brandon has scored first, the 'Canes scored three times in the middle frame, held a 3-2 lead into the third and rode the steady goaltending of Juha Metsola the rest of the way. And it all started with better decisions in the defensive zone and the explosion of Mach 3, Lethbridge's incomparable unit of Mitch Fadden, Zach Boychuk and Colton Sceviour.
“Your best players have got to be your best players in key situations and time and time again these guys have stepped up for us,” Dyck said.
Fadden scored twice, Boychuk added a single and two assists and Sceviour chipped in three helpers, including a pure speed display on Nick Hotson's four-on-four tally, as the 'Canes go-to guys did exactly what was expected.
“It was a matter of how we came back,” Sceviour said. “We were down 1-0 there and we needed to look at ourselves in the room between the first and second and see how we were going to respond and we responded the way we needed to.”
The Wheat Kings had a plan from puck drop and they executed it in a dominant opening frame, running at the 'Canes at every turn and forcing a pile of defensive-zone turnovers. The cough-ups finally cost Lethbridge late in the period when an ill-advised dump up the boards turned into a Brodie Melnychuk shot on net, Jay Fehr chipping the rebound over Juha Metsola and into the net at 13:40.
Brandon was worthy of the goal, holding an 11-2 shots edge at that point and 12-5 overall in the period.
The club then bounced back with a superb second, keyed by the big guys. Speed was the buzz word of the middle frame as Lethbridge either pushed the Brandon defence back or got behind it to create scoring opportunities.
“We've got to come underneath the puck and when we do that and use our speed from our zone, it's a lot easier to get by their big D and we've just got to keep chipping pucks and throwing pucks on net,” Fadden said.
Boychuk got it going with a breakaway goal 10:25 in as he ripped a shot low past Joe Caligiuri's blocker. Less than three minutes later Fadden got lucky when he threw a puck to the net off the rush. Caligiuri steered it aside but it banked off Brandon defenceman Daryl Boyle and into the net for a 2-1 Lethbridge lead.
Brandon countered with Brayden Schenn's power play goal at 15:26 but just 62 seconds later, Sceviour blew past his check to race down a puck behind the Brandon net, spun and fed Hotson, the puck barely touching his stick before rattling under the crossbar for a 3-2 lead.
Brandon would push hard in the third and get three more power play chances but Fadden's second of the game, on a 100-foot three-on-two break, gave the 'Canes enough breathing room. It made Daniel Bartek's goal nothing more than window dressing and despite closing the game with the man advantage for the third straight time, the Wheaties couldn't solve Metsola.
“It's not much unlike the first two, close game going down to the wire and we just needed a play, we needed a play to tie it up and send it to overtime and it didn't happen for us,” Wheat Kings defenceman Keith Aulie said.
Metsola finished with 31 saves and was exceptional early to keep the game at 1-0, then again late when Brandon threw all they had.
“He made some unbelievable saves, seeing things through traffic and he played an unbelievable game for us and that's the kind of goaltending you need,” Sceviour said. “That's how you make a run in the playoffs.”
Now it's a matter of closing the door.
“Our role is pretty simple right now, we've got Lethbridge in our building (tonight) and we have to ask ourselves if that's something we think we can do, beat this team one time in our building,” Wheat Kings GM and head coach Kelly McCrimmon said.
Lethbridge meanwhile, wants to get things over with as quick as possible.
“We're not thinking about winning Game 4, we're thinking about how we're going to start the hockey game (tonight),” Dyck said. “We're going to be ready for the same kind of push they had tonight.”
ICE CHIPS — Hurricanes D Jesse Craige returned to the lineup, leaving D Brennan Yadlowski, D Lucas Alexiuk as scratches . . . Brandon welcomed D Theran Yeo back from a knee injury and he played on a forward unit, leaving F Sanfred King, F Jordan Hale and F Alexander Grill-Donovan as scratches . . . Hurricanes lost D Jeff May in the first period after a centre-ice collision with Jay Fehr, he did not return and is listed as day-to-day . . . Lethbridge was 0-for-3 on the power play, Brandon 1-for-7 . . . Brandon held a 34-20 shots edge . . . The crowd of 2,888 was the smallest of the season.
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