Luke Philp knows what's coming for his Red Deer Rebels in May.
He's not concerned about playing host to the Memorial Cup just yet, not when there's the Ed Chynoweth Cup to be won first.
Philp is just finding his stride again after missing nearly two months with an ankle injury, back when he was still playing centre for the Kootenay Ice. The Rebels acquired him in a trade Jan. 4 to help kickstart the offence and he did exactly that Saturday.
His first-period goal on a shot from just outside the crease and a long-range floater from Russian Ivan Nikolishin was all the offence the Rebels needed to defeat the Prince George Cougars 2-1 and end a five-game losing streak in front of 3,164 witnesses Saturday at CN Centre.
"This is my first win since I came back to the lineup and we fought real hard for this one, it feels good," said Philp, a 20-year-old from Canmore, Alta., who found out Thursday he'd been named the Rebels captain. "They're a good team, they play hard and they have a lot of skill up front and they played well in both games. It was a close game, not much separates us and we're happy to get a win."
Philp had the lone goal Friday for the Rebels in a 3-1 loss to the Cougars. He was playing on a line with Jake DeBrusk and Adam Helewka, who were also added at the trade deadline.
"We still haven't seen the best out of Luke - he was out two months and this was only his sixth game back and that takes time," said Rebels assistant coach Steve O'Rourke.
"He's starting to get going but what he brings is he's battle-tested. He's been through rounds of playoffs four years with Kootenay, he's been to the second round and he scored points in those rounds. He's been a big influential player and he knows what it takes."
The Cougars were flat as frozen tundra to start the second period and were lucky the Rebels didn't run up the score. Red Deer centres dominated the face-off circle and that led to extended offensive-zone flurries in the first five minutes of the period.
The Cougars could thank Nick McBride it was still a one-goal game by the time they started to pull out of their funk. The 19-year-old netminder made quality saves off Haydn Fleury and Michael Spacek to keep his team within one strike of tying it, which they did late in the second period.
The Rebels were good at disguising the fact they rank as the third-worst penalty killing team in the WHL and held the Cougars without a shot in either of their first two power plays, but the odds caught up with them. With Colton Bobyk serving a high-sticking penalty late in the second period, Brogan O'Brien made an agile play at the blueline to hold the puck in the Red Deer zone and got the puck over to Tate Olson, whose long wrister rippled the net behind Trevor Martin. That tied the game at a goal apiece, 28 seconds before the second intermission and it had a carryover effect on the Cougars.
They stormed the Rebels net with eight unanswered shots to start the third period. Jared Bethune, Brad Morrison, Chase Witala, Bartek Bison and O'Brien all mustered quality chances but none got through Martin.
"They have two really good lines that can put the puck in the net and even some guys on their third line have some skill and I thought we did a pretty good job tonight," said Fleury, the Rebels defenceman picked by Carolina seventh overall in the 2014 NHL draft. "Marty was unbelievable tonight and we need that. We need them to make the first save and let us worry about the rest of them."
The Rebels retook the lead with 5:59 gone in the third period. Nikolishin, their leading point-getter who played for Russian world junior team, lofted a long shot through a screen that McBride did not see coming. Nikolishin's team-leading 30th goal stood up as the gamewinner.
"I thought we played well and had a lot of good chances in that third period to finish them off and take the lead and we weren't able to capitalize and that hurt us in the end and they got a lucky goal," said Cougars defenceman Shane Collins, who turned 19 on Saturday.
"They have a lot of firepower but we're right there with them. If we were in a playoff series I think it would be a tight series."
Many people in the building were wondering why the Cougars didn't give the start in goal to Ty Edmonds, who saved 30 of 31 shots in Friday's 3-1 win over the Rebels.
"The reason is we've got four games in five nights coming up and we just played two here and we don't want a tired goalie," said Cougars head coach Mark Holick.
"We want a fresh goalie every night and both goalies are on the same page with that. I thought Eddy was outstanding Friday and he faced a lot of shots and felt a bit tired so we thought we'd give him the night off and he'll go back Tuesday and play in Tri-Cities and we'll probably use Nick on Wednesday. We're comfortable with either guy."
The win pushed Red Deer's record to 36-21-1-2. The Cougars (32-23-3-1) have won just three of their last 10. They left on the bus Sunday heading for Kennewick, Wash., where they will play the Tri-City Americans tonight, followed by a Wednesday game in Spokane.
