By Aaron Mahoney (@Mahones93 on Twitter)

Hurricanes shutout the Rebels 4-0 in a fight filled affair

Dec 6, 2017 | 9:35 PM

LETHBRIDGE – From the drop of the puck to the final buzzer, the Lethbridge Hurricanes outplayed the Red Deer Rebels in nearly every facet of the game on route to a 4-0 victory on Wednesday night (Dec. 6) at the ENMAX Centre. 

The Hurricanes improve to 7-1 in their last eight games with the win, now sitting at a record of 14-13-1-0 on the season.

Egor Zudilov would get the Hurricanes on the board at 8:29 of the first period, when he sent a fluttering puck over top of Rebels goaltender Riley Lamb on a pass from Igor Merezhko. 

That was the only goal of the first frame, but it wasn’t the only action. 

Brendan Stafford and Carson Sass got the flippers off, and got the crowd going, with under five minutes to play in the period. 

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The ‘Canes would take a 1-0 lead into the first intermission, outshooting their Central Division rivals 9-2.

Just over six minutes into the second period, defenceman Ty Prefontaine buried his third goal of the season, and all three have come in the past two home games. 

Prefontaine nailed Rebels forward Lane Zablocki along the boards later in the period, and was quickly challenged to a fight by Ethan Sakowich. Prefontaine ditched his gloves quick, and the two had another spirited bout to the delight of the home town fans. 

The second period was the best of the night for the Rebels, keeping the shots close at 12-10 but the score after two was 2-0 in favour of the Hurricanes. 

Rebels goalie Riley Lamb would make the mistake to put the game out of reach for his club just a few minutes past the 10-minute mark of the third period, firing a pass directly onto the tape of defenceman Koletrane Wilson who buried it into the back of the net to make it 3-0 for the Hurricanes. 

Taylor Ross added another one for the Hurricanes a few minutes later, and Tate Olsen ended up fighting Zablocki late in the third period, but that was the last of action for the game. 

The Hurricanes outshot the Rebels 31-21 overall, with goaltender Stuart Skinner making the important saves when he had to which preserved the shutout. 

Head Coach Brent Kisio says he thought it was a good game for his club, and really liked his team’s start to the game.

“I think we got away from it for a little bit in the second period, and at the start of the third. But we knew Red Deer was going to have a push, and after that we managed to get our feet moving again and we were solid,” Kisio said. 

Kisio was also happy with the job his team did in their own zone.

“Part of that was whenever there was a chance, Skinner was great at swallowing up shots and not giving out any rebounds so Red Deer didn’t have any second or third chances around the net,” he added. 

The Hurricanes will remain in town for the next few days ahead of their last home game in the first half of the WHL season, against the Edmonton Oil Kings on Friday night (Dec. 8).

After that, Lethbridge will embark on a four-game road trip that will take them through Saskatchewan and Manitoba before the Christmas break.