Krebs leads Ice to OT win from defence

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 06/04/2021 (1982 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Sometimes it seems Peyton Krebs does it all for the Winnipeg Ice.

Occasions like Tuesday night are proof of that, although there was an unusual element to Krebs’ heroics in a 3-2 overtime triumph over the Saskatoon Blades at the WHL East Division hub in Regina.

The 20-year-old centre, playing his swansong season of junior hockey, scored once, generated a 4-on-3 power play in extra time by luring Blades captain Chase Wouters into tripping penalty, and then drew an assist on Owen Pederson’s game-winner at the 1:40 mark.

Oh, and by the way, the Ice captain did all this while logging more than 30 minutes of ice time as a defenceman (he only played his usual position for the game’s opening shift) with Winnipeg missing four regular blue-liners, all out with various ailments.

Head coach James Patrick was asked if it was Krebs’ finest hour as a member of the Ice.

“It ranks right up there because for me it just shows how competitive he is and how hard he works,” said Patrick by phone from Regina.

“I appreciate it and I don’t take it for granted because I think it’s so important to the rest of our group. Ryan Guenter, one of our assistant coaches here who scouts for us, he’s been with some other organizations and today after game he said, ‘Of all the junior players I’ve been around, I just never seen a guy that works that hard.’ “

Krebs had played the point on the power play before had never taking a regular turn as a defenceman.

“I was totally confident — I was,” insisted Patrick. “But you never know until he gets out there what it’s gonna look like. But that’s what I had in my mind. I said I know he can play defence.”

Rookie Chase Bertholet, with his second career goal, also scored for the Ice, which improved to 9-4-0-0 and third in the East.

Tristen Robins, with his seventh, and Evan Patrician, with his fourth, replied for the Blades, who are second in the East at 9-2-2-0.

In overtime, Krebs’ initial shot trickled through Blades goaltender Nolan Maier and Pederson gave it a final push over the goal-line for his seventh goal of the hub.

With Karter Prosofsky (upper body), Mike Ladyman (upper body), Nolan Orzeck (lower body), Carson Lambos (unspecified) all out, Winnipeg plugged on with blue-liners Anson McMaster, Ben Zloty and rookies Brandt Young and Owen Boucher. Patrick supplemented that crew with Krebs and left-winger Evan Waldie.

“Some games as a coach you feel the ups and downs a little more and I just had a pretty good feeling on the bench,” said Patrick. “I felt good even knowing that we had a very young defence corps and there were a lot of guys playing in different roles. We had Peyton out there and Ben Zloty carrying the load, one of them having to be on the ice (at all times). It still felt like a pretty calm game.”

Krebs, a first-round draft pick of the Vegas Golden Knights, extended his point-scoring streak to 12 games and now has seven goals and 23 points in 13 games, good for second overall in the WHL scoring race.

“They like to play Wouters line against Peyton as a checking line and so we thought we wouldn’t tip our hand and he just played one shift forward and then the rest on D,” added Patrick. “(Forward) Jakin Smallwood actually had that first shift on defence.”

Next up for the Ice is a Wednesday matchup with the Moose Jaw Warriors (5 p.m.) and the manpower situation won’t be any better. Ladyman and Prosofsky are the closest to returning to the lineup while Lambos has been shut down for the season.

“They won’t be available (Wednesday) but we’ll see where they are by next week,” said Patrick, adding there are plans to bring a young defenceman into the hub but any new arrival would be required to quarantine for two weeks. Winnipeg plays its last game in the hub April 27.

Goaltender Carl Stankowski denied Kyle Crnkovic on a third-period penalty shot and finished the game with 27 saves,

The Ice finish their week with a Saturday game against the Prince Albert Raiders. Game time is 5 p.m.

BLUE-LINES: Saskatoon went 0-for-3 on the power play. Winnipeg scored twice in three chances… Three stars: 1. Peyton Krebs, Winnipeg (one goal, one assist, five shots); 2. Carl Stankowski, Winnipeg (27 saves); 3. Nolan Maier, Saskatoon (29 saves).

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @sawa14