The Dauphin Kings are two wins away from competing for the Turnbull Trophy as Manitoba Junior Hockey League champions.
The Kings won the first two games of their best-of-seven semifinal series with the Winkler Flyers at Credit Union Place over the weekend.
With the Kings leading 2-1 going into the third period of game one, Saturday, Winkler’s Ryan Monias tied the contest 1:08 into the final frame. Winkler’s jubilation was shortlived as Matthew Rathbone put the Kings back in front to stay, just 19 seconds later as the Kings went on to beat the Flyers 4-2.
In game two on Sunday, Winkler tied the game at one, 10:06 into the second period on a power-play goal from Justin Svenson, who led the MJHL in scoring this season.
But again, the Kings responded quickly, with Rathbone netting what proved to be the winning goal 1:10 later with a power-play marker of his own. Kaden Bryant sealed a 3-1 win with an empty-net goal with 12 seconds left.
Kings head coach and general manager Doug Hedley said the team’s overall urgency and compete level was a key to success in games one and two.
“We talked about being harder on pucks and I thought even the last couple of games against Swan, we were very good. And this weekend we were really hard on pucks. We won some races to pucks and we put a lot of pressure on the forecheck,” he said. “We had some good puck management. I just thought the guys all bought into what we do well. We play a fast game, we play with speed and when we do that, we have success and the guys really bought into it.”
The Kings upped their physical play in both games against the Flyers.
“Winkler’s a heavy team and we knew they were going to come at us hard and we had to push back. We may not be the overall heaviest team in the league, but when we use our speed and separate guys from pucks, we can play a physical brand of hockey. And I thought we did very well on the weekend,” Hedley said.
The Kings outshot Winkler both nights, 33-26 in game one and 42-18 in game two. They opened Sunday’s game with 21 shots in the first period alone.
Hedley is pleased with the chances being generated by the Kings.
“We’re creating some good speed through the neutral zone. We’re getting some opportunities on the rush. Our forecheck and our movement in the offensive zone has been very good,” he said. “But in the first period of Sunday’s game I thought we had a lot of real good looks. There are times when you have to bear down and make your breaks count. If there’s anything we could have done was maybe in the first period getting a little more puck luck around the net and bury some.”
Hedley hopes the Kings can keep the momentum going in games three and four, Wednesday and Thursday in Winkler.
“The toughest game to win is going to be the next one. And the first game in Winkler, we’re going to have to bring our A game, for sure, because they’re going to come hard,” he said.
Defenceman Klim Georgiev made his return to the lineup for game one on Saturday after his suspension was reduced to five playoff games. He was suspended for 11 regular season games and seven playoff games after he received a gross misconduct for a racist gesture in a game against the Waywayseecappo Wolverines, Feb. 19.
