The Richardson Pioneer Weyburn Red Wings kicked off a pair of games in Kindersley against the Klippers Tuesday night. The Klippers would spend the night throwing everything but the kitchen sink at the Weyburn net, keeping starting goaltender Jackson Fellner on his toes, especially in the first 40 minutes of the game.
Fellner would face 37 shots by the end of the second period, turning aside 35 of those. He would be beaten once more in the third period and finished the game making 39 saves on 42 shots.
At the other end, the Red Wings had some troubles generating offence. They had seven power play opportunities throughout the game but were unable to capitalize on them. By the end of the game, the Wings had only tested Klippers' netminder Matthew Pesenti 22 times, and he stopped 21 of those shots.
The Klippers opened the scoring at the 3:35 mark, as the Klippers, who lead the league in shorthanded goals, would make it ten on the season as Noah Lindsay found himself coming in on a breakaway, beating Fellner to make it 1-0.
Weyburn would respond before the end of the first period. Copper Chisholm brought the puck into the attacking zone along the left wing and saucered the puck through traffic to Jackson Hassman in the slot. His shot would get past Klippers' goalie Matt Pesenti to make it 1-1 with 4:50 to go in the period.
The tie game was broken up at the 6:57 mark of the period. A faceoff in the Weyburn zone had the puck played back to Kindersley’s Nathan Degraves, and his shot from the blue line got over the shoulders of Fellner to make it a 2-1 game.
The Klippers opened up the lead to 3-1 early in the third period as Tylin Hilbig came in on the left wing, move around a sprawled-out Red Wing player who attempted to block the shot, and put it high on Fellner just 5:52 into the frame.
Kindersley closed out the game with an empty-net goal in the dying moments from Lindsay to give the Klippers a 4-1 victory.
The game Tuesday was the first of three in four nights between these two clubs. They will play again Wednesday night in Kindersley, before making the trip to Weyburn for a game Friday night.
You can catch the action in Wednesday’s game on Red Wing Radio BIG106, starting with the pregame show at 7:15 p.m. The puck drops at 7:30 p.m.