Hurricanes 2 Rebels 1 (OT)

LETHBRIDGE — The single point the Red Deer Rebels gained Sunday was small consolation to GM/head coach Brent Sutter.

"It's a point, but it's not the way you want to get one," Sutter grumbled, following his club's 2-1 overtime loss to the Lethbridge Hurricanes in a Western Hockey League contest viewed by 2,370 fans at the ENMAX Centre.

"We didn't play well in the first and second periods tonight. We lost most of the one-on-one battles."

The Rebels, playing their third game in 72 hours, also lost the battle with the officials, taking six of seven minor penalties in the first 40 minutes.

"And every penalty was deserved," said Sutter. "They were retaliation and slashing penalties, the type the referee always calls.

"When you're playing your third game in three nights you have to be smarter, you have to show more discipline. We took six minors in the first two periods. That's 12 minutes of hockey we had to kill off."

As a result, the Rebels couldn't sustain any kind of attack. But they managed to hold the 'Canes off the board for 35 minutes, thanks in large part to netminder Shane Bendera, who finished with 25 saves.

Bendera got his second consecutive start based on his history of performing well in Lethbridge and his play in Saturday's 5-3 win over visiting Kelowna. In addition, Michael Garnett wasn’t sharp in Friday's 6-3 loss to Medicine Hat at the Centrium.

"Shane played well here last year and I went with a gut feeling," said Sutter, who has rotated his netminders from game-to-game most of the season.

"But that doesn't mean it (regular rotation) will happen all the time," he said. "I don't want our goaltenders to become complacent."

Rocky Mountain House product Ryley Layden, acquired by the 'Canes from Tri-City earlier this season, opened the scoring with a power-play goal at 15:04 of the second period.

The Rebels drew even on Jeff Smith’s 10th of the season at 10:52 of the third period — a power-play marker — and neither team was able to score through the final nine minutes of regulation time.

Nathan Barrett potted the winner just 54 seconds into the extra frame.

The setback closed out a mediocre three-day stretch for the Rebels, who at 16-4-1-1 trail the first-place Kootenay Ice by six points in the Central Division with four games in hand.

"I'm not at all happy with our weekend," said Sutter. "Our goal heading into the weekend was to focus on one period at a time, and to me we played well in only three of nine periods.

"I don't care what our record is. You have to be more consistent than that if you're going to be a good team."

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Red Deer played without forwards Justin Wallin (concussion), Ladislav Kouba (tonsillitis) and Donovan Rattray (concussion). Wallin may return for Wednesday's contest against the visiting Kamloops Blazers.

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The three stars Sunday were (1) Barrett, (2) Bendera and (3) Lethbridge netminder Blake Ward, who made 17 saves.