Blazers fall 5-3 to Wheat Kings in Brandon

Dec 16, 2015 | 7:59 PM

BRANDON, Man. — The Brandon Wheat Kings (20-10-1-2) showed why they are the best team in the East Division with a 5-3 win over the Kamloops Blazers (15-11-3-1) on Wednesday night. 

The Blazers opened the scoring on the power play. Gage Quinney snapped a wrist shot over the pad and under the glove of goaltender Jordan Papirny for a 1-0 lead 13:46 into the game. 

The Wheat Kings tied it up with 1:36 to go in the period. Reid Duke scored on a rebound off the rush as the two teams were tied at 1-1 through one period. 

Ty Lewis gave the Wheat Kings the lead midway through the second period. It was a similar play as the Wheat Kings first goal. Lewis put home a rebound off the rush to make it 2-1. 

The Blazers tied it up a minute later as Nick Chyzowski scored his ninth goal of the season off a broken to play make it 2-2. 

Erik Miller then gave the Blazers a lead shortly after Chyzowski’s goal. Spencer Bast got him the puck and Miller had an open net for his first career WHL goal. 

The Wheat Kings came right back to score two goals in the final six minutes of the period to take a 4-3 lead through two periods. 

In the third period, the Blazers had some terrific chances to tie the game, but goaltender Jordan Papirny was at his best when the game mattered the most. 

Papirny robbed Matt Needham on a cross-ice one-timer on the power play. He also stopped Jake Kryski and Gage Quinney on point blank shots in the third period. 

The Wheat Kings added a late goal to close out the scoring and beat the Blazers 5-3. 

The Blazers were 1-for-2 on the power play, while the Wheat Kings finished 0-for-1. Final shots on goal were 42-22 in favour of the Wheat Kings. 

The Blazers continue their East Division road trip with games in Moose Jaw on Friday night and in Swift Current on Saturday.