Red Deer Rebels didn’t disappoint in their season opener against the Edmonton Oil Kings Saturday night.

The boys in black scored early and often in their 7-3 win in front of 5805 fans inside the Centrium.

It was the kind of start Rebels Head Coach and GM Brent Sutter wanted to see based on results, but said they were far from perfect.

“Tonight, is a learning experience where you got to play the game the right way consistently the whole time and do it for 60 minutes. We found a way to score seven goals tonight, but I would like to see us play better five-on-five.”

Being the first game of the season, Sutter said he knows his players are pumped and understands it’s hard for them to control their emotions.

“It has nothing to do with not working hard. We worked hard, but we just need to have more discipline in our team game and more discipline, by not taking so many bad penalties.”

Rebels took six penalties, but only allowed one goal while short-handed.

Rebels forward Austin Pratt started the scoring just seven minutes into the game, followed up with a late period goal from Mason McCarty to take a 2-0 lead into the first intermission.

Second period saw much of the same as the Rebels kept pouring it on, adding two more to the scoreboard on goals from Reece Johnson and Brandon Hagel.

Oil Kings added their first goal of the game with just under four minutes left in the period, when Andrei Pavlenko scored on the powerplay.

In the third, newly appointed captain Grayson Pawlenchuk, made his mark by scoring his first two goals of the season, something he said was quite rewarding.

“It definitely felt pretty good. It felt good to get back and playing again and getting the first one out of the way. It’s been a while since my last goal in the league (regular season) so it was definitely nice to get that one.”

Pawlenchuk’s last goal came during November of last year, in an injury-riddled season.

Rebels 2017 CHL Import Draft pick Kristian Reichel added his first WHL goal, to round out the Rebels scoring in the third.

Andrei Pavlenko scored his second goal of the game in the final frame, while Davis Koch added his first goal of the season for the Oil Kings.

Rebels Lasse Petersen made the start in place of their number one netminder Riley Lamb, who’s out six weeks with a thumb injury. He made the 30 saves in the win.

Rebels went 2-for-5 on the powerplay and outshot the Oil Kings 43-33.

It’s a quick turnaround for the Rebels as they head to Edmonton tomorrow (Sept. 24) where they’ll try to play spoiler in the Oil Kings home opener.