Stotts pots pair to pace Hitmen
It appears that all Riley Stotts needed was a change of scenery.
Stotts had two goals and an assist to lead the Calgary Hitmen to a 6-1 win over the Edmonton Oil Kings in front of an announced crowd of 4,842 fans at the Scotiabank Saddledome on Wednesday.
After recording just three points in 22 games with the Swift Current Broncos, Stotts has now found the back of the net three times to go with five assists in six contests with the Hitmen (10-17-4).
Playing on a line with Jake Kryski and Orca Wiesblatt, Stotts has found his offensive form since joining the Hitmen — along with fellow forward Conner Chaulk and defenceman Dom Schmiemann — in a blockbuster trade on Nov. 25 that sent Matteo Gennaro and Beck Malenstyn the other way.
Vladislav Yeryomenko, Jakob Stukel, Andrei Grishakov and Cael Zimmerman also scored for Calgary, who moved to within four points of the Kootenay Ice (13-172) for third place in the WHL’s Central Division.
Goalie Nick Schneider stopped 35 of 36 shots he faced, while Kryski finished with three helpers.
Davis Koch scored the lone goal of the game for the Oil Kings (721-3), while goalie Boston Bilous finished with 18 saves.
Just past the six-minute mark of the first period, Schneider made back-to-back saves to keep the game scoreless.
After stopping the initial shot by Koch, Schneider reached out with his glove hand to snag the rebound attempt off the stick of David Kope out of the air.
Later in the period, Bilous kicked out his right pad to deny a shorthanded breakaway attempt by Conner Chaulk.
Bilous wasn’t able to stop another short-handed chance by Yeryomenko with 1:43 left on the clock before the intermission.
On a two-on-one with Chaulk on his left, Yeryomenko wired a wicked shot to the top corner past Bilous for his second goal in as many games.
The Hitmen continued their parade to the penalty box in the second period and paid for it at 7:52 when Koch found himself alone in front of Schneider.
Koch took a pass from Ty Gerla and had loads of time before he flipped the puck up and over Schneider, who got a piece of the puck before it crossed the line.
The Hitmen answered right back 3:42 later when Stotts took a pass in the slot from Kryski before snapping a shot into the top corner, blocker side behind Bilous.
The line of Mark Kastelic, Luke Coleman and Grishakov then had a couple great chances to extend Calgary’s lead.
After breaking into the Edmonton zone on a two-on-one with Coleman, Kastelic elected to shoot but Bilous stood his ground to make the save before also denying another chance by Grishakov a short time later.
Stukel added an insurance goal for the Hitmen 40 second into the third before the floodgates opened.
After Stotts scored his second of the game, Grishakov and Zimmerman also got into the action for the Hitmen who recorded their second 6-1 win in their past three games.