Calgary 4 Red Deer 2

Brady Brassart scored his second career playoff hat trick while Cody Sylvester set up three goals to lead the Calgary Hitmen to a 4-2 win over the Red Deer Rebels in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference Semi-Final.

Alex Roach also scored for the Hitmen who built period leads of 1-0 and 4-1.

Dominik Volek and Calgary Flames prospect Turner Elson replied for the Rebels who suffered their first loss of the post season.

Ottawa Senators prospect Chris Driedger turned in a strong performance in the Hitmen net making 28 stops to raise his playoff save percentage to .941.

Calgary out shot Red Deer 33-30 and won the special teams battle which played a large role in the outcome.  The Hitmen went 2-5 on the powerplay while killing all three Rebels chances.

The best-of-seven series resumes with Game 2 Friday at Scotiabank Saddledome.  The puck drops at 7:30 p.m.

Red Deer Rebels 2 at Calgary Hitmen 4
Thursday, April 4, 2013 - Scotiabank Saddledome - Calgary, AB

Red Deer 0 1 1 - 2
Calgary 1 3 0 - 4

1st Period
1, Calgary, Brassart 4 (Humphries, Sylvester), 11:55.
Penalties-Brassart Cal (interference), 0:23; Gaudet R.d (holding), 17:19; Fafard R.d (tripping), 19:44.

2nd Period
2, Calgary, Roach 2 (Sylvester), 1:21 (PP).
3, Red Deer, Volek 1 (Bleackley), 1:57.
4, Calgary, Brassart 5 (Sylvester, Virtanen), 6:24.
5, Calgary, Brassart 6 (Humphries, Rask), 9:19 (PP).
Penalties-Underwood R.d (boarding), 8:43; Zgraggen Cal (boarding), 15:32; Bellerive R.d (high sticking), 18:07.

3rd Period
6, Red Deer, Elson 4 (Dieno), 7:02.
Penalties-Peterson Cal (tripping), 14:36; Dieno R.d (hooking), 15:07.

Shots on Goal-Red Deer 8-9-13-30. Calgary 7-13-13-33.
Power Play Opportunities-Red Deer 0 / 3; Calgary 2 / 5.
Goalies-Red Deer, Bartosak 4-1-0-0 (33 shots-29 saves). Calgary, Driedger 5-0-1-0 (30 shots-28 saves).
A-5,354
Referees-Reagan Vetter (39), Colin Watt (72).
Linesmen-Sean Donnelly (109), Michael Roberts (87).