The Red Deer Rebels fell to the Brandon Wheat Kings 5-2 to begin their four-game road trip.
Wheat Kings captain Nate Danielson, who is from Red Deer, notched two goals in the contest to lift his team to victory.
The Rebels stayed in it early taking a 1-0 lead three minutes into the game from Rebels captain Kai Uchacz. However, Wheat Kings’ Nolan Flamand tied it a minute and a half later on the powerplay off the pass from Luke Shipley.
Danielson scored his first of the game midway through the opening period to take the lead but Rebels Carson Birnie answered with under five minutes left to play in the first.
In the second period, the Wheat Kings took a stranglehold on the game with three unanswered goals.
Defenceman Luke Shipley scored just over two minutes into the frame followed by the insurance goal from Brett Hyland later in the period.
Danielson potted his second of the game and 10th of the year with five minutes left in the second to give the Wheat Kings a commanding lead.
The Rebels pushed in the third period but both teams were held off the scoresheet.
“We made some mistakes in the first period but I thought we controlled the play. And then in the second period, we came out a totally different team,” head coach Derrick Walser said after the game.
“We weren’t aggressive, we weren’t on our toes, we were just casual, soft, and they took advantage of it. We’ve just got to recover.”
Red Deer’s scoring struggles continued, especially on the powerplay. They were held to no goals on five man-advantage opportunities.
Rebels goaltender Rhett Stoesser made 24 saves before he was pulled for letting in five goals. Netminder Chase Wutzke entered the game in relief making eight saves and allowing no goals.
Wheat Kings goalie Carson Bjarnason was solid between the pipes making 23 saves on 25 shots.
Red Deer will be back in action on Wednesday night in Moose Jaw against the Warriors at 6 p.m. before heading to Saskatoon on Friday.
“We were pretty aggressive in all three zones but we just got caught puck-watching,” Walser added.
“It’s one of those things the leadership group and we have been discussing in between periods that you’ve got to stay in the moment. Stay focused and we came out in the second period not focused and started on a five-on-three.”