Monday, May 2, 2022

Captain Grubbe's Triple Overtime Goal Sends Red Deer To Second Round

The 2021-2022 New York Rangers prospect's regular season was really good; the playoffs so far have been even better. Three prospects saw action on Sunday and each was a huge factor in why their teams won their games.

Jayden Grubbe is the captain of the Red Deer Rebels, and while he doesn't have the big numbers that other Ranger prospects have, he has still been a major factor in the success that his Rebels have had this season.

On Sunday, Grubbe scored what might have been the biggest goal of his WHL career when he fired a shot past the Brandon Wheat Kings goalie at 7:41 of the third overtime to give his Rebels a 5-4 win and advance them into the second round of the WHL playoffs.

What a great finish by the Red Deer captain as he becomes the second Rangers prospect to score a series-winning goal this year joining Matthew Rempe of Seattle. Grubbe, who has been used mostly as a defensive center this year and his linemates used a strong forecheck and Grubbe found himself wide open for a shot in the slot to advance his team to the WHL's second round. 

But there was more to Grubbe's game than just the goal, as he took pretty much every defensive zone faceoff during the overtime periods and wound up going 20-21 for the game. That he scored the game-winner seemed to be very fair after the way his defense had been a huge factor in this series. 

Red Deer will face the Edmonton Oil Kings in the WHL's Eastern Conference second round starting on Thursday. The Oil Kings will have the home-ice advantage.

Brennan Othmann scored the game-winner as his Flint Firebirds took game five from the Owen Sound Attack 5-1 to take a 3-2 series lead. The Attack have done a good job swarming Othmann during this series, limiting his scoring chances, but Othmann found a way to score his third goal of the playoffs. 

After a scoreless first period, the Firebirds scored twice in the first 68 seconds of the second period and never trailed after that. Othmann got an excellent feed from his linemate who found him all alone in front of the Attack goal. 

All the Flint captain had to do was wait for the Attack goalie to make a move and he had an empty net to drop a soft backhand into. 

Othmann only took three shots as he scored for the first time since game two of this series as the goal was enough to send the series back to Owen Sound with a chance to end the series for Flint. Game Six will be on Tuesday night.

Will Cuylle and his Windsor Spitfires advanced to the OHL's Western Conference second round after a 3-1 win over the Sarnia Sting in game six eliminated the Sting 4-2. Cuylle scored the dagger goal, an empty net goal, at 19:55 of regulation for his fifth goal of the playoffs. 

Cuylle had a pretty quiet game with just two shots on goal including the goal for the entire game. Give the Sting a lot of credit; the eighth seed gave the Spitfires a much tougher battle than anyone expected. 

Windsor has to wait to find out who they face next because of the Flint/Owen Sound series. 


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