Oil Kings dominant in Game 1 victory
Home side starts strong, never relents
The first few minutes of an opening period — especially in a playoff round opener — are said to be crucial. They can set the tone for the rest of the game and perhaps for the entire series.
If the initial minutes of Thursday’s Game 1 in the Western Hockey League second-round series between the Edmonton Oil Kings and Brandon Wheat Kings is a barometer of what’s to come, then it will be the Oil Kings walking away with the spoils.
The Oil Kings had a perfect start this night. They came out flying, clearly eager to play playoff hockey after spending a week away from gamea ction. The rewere hard hits delivered, and they put early pressure on Brandon goaltender Jordan Papirny.
In fact, just 2:25 into the opening stanza, the Oil Kings were already up 2-0.
The Oil Kings used their quick start to play basically a perfect game. They were relentless offensively and impenetrable defensively, and the end result, 5-0, reflected that.
The stellar start didn’t seem to surprise Edmonton head coach Derek Laxdal.
“They were ready to play,” he said after the game. “I think the week off you could really see the energy build in the room. They were a little antsy in practice.
“The start was great for us tonight,” he continued. “It provided a lot of energy.”
Even when the Wheat Kings somewhat found their footing and began to create a few offensive opportunities in the second period, they were stymied by the goaltending of Tristan Jarry.
Jarry logged his first shutout of the post season, turning away 15 shots while Papirny stopped 40.
Although he faced just a third of the shots his opponent saw at the other end, Jarry stopped what Laxal called “Grade-A” scoring chances in the middle period.
Edgars Kulda got things going for Edmonton, carrying the puck along the side from centre ice before handing it off to a waiting Brett Pollock in front of the net, who made no mistake.
Just 35 seconds later, Mads Eller made his contribution to the impeccable start, netting a rebound and giving the Oil Kings a two-goal cushion.
The early goals left the Wheat Kings deflated. By the five-minute mark, the Oil Kings claimed all eight shots on goal. As it turned out, the Wheat Kings could muster only three shots for the entire period.
The closest chance Brandon had to scoring a goal came late in the opening stanza when a shot appeared to have just crossed the goal-line. The play wasn’t initially going to be reviewed, but when the Wheat Kings saw the replay on the jumbotron, their reaction prompted the referees to take another look. Typical of the way things were going on the ice, the final decision was no goal.
In the second period, the Oil Kings went up by three when Ashton Sautner scored on the power play. Kulda followed that up by doing a nifty spin before firing the puck past Papirny to make it 4-0.
The final stanza was much the same, with the Oil Kings dominating. In fact, it took only 47 seconds for Henrik Samuelsson to bury a shot into the top corner from a sharp angle, accounting for the fifth and final marker on the night and completing this auspicious performance by the home side.
Despite the lopsided result, Laxdal still had some criticism for his team and said there were areas that needed improving.
“I thought we were sluggish in the (defensive) zone in certain instances,” he said. “Was it our best game of the playoffs? I don’t think so. We expect a few other guys to get going, but it’s a good start for us.”
Even captain Griffin Reinhart was quick to point out some of the minuscule flaws in Thursday’s performance.
“We sat back a little after the first two goals,” he said.
“We want to learn to keep our foot on the gas. The last time we played Brandon, we got up a couple goal sand (they came right back) so we’ve just got to keep working hard and make sure they don’t crawl back into games.”
The teams face off in Game 2 Saturday at Rexall Place beginning at noon.
“We’ve talked about having a short-term memory in the playoffs, win or lose,” said Laxdal. “This game is in the history books and we have to be ready for Game 2 now.”
Papirny knows Brandon will be ready.
“Any time you lose, it’s not fun,” said Papirny. “(When we lose) we look at it the same way, whether it’s a 1-0 loss or 5-0 like tonight. As far as our team goes, we will bounce back and we will come out hard on Saturday.”