Oil Kings let one slip away against Thunderbirds

Power play goes 0-6 in loss to Seattle

The Edmonton Oil Kings are still working on the “special” aspect of their special teams.

So far this season, they’ve been anything but.

On Thursday, the Oil Kings were unable to do anything with their six power-play opportunities, while giving up a power-play goal to the Seattle Thunderbirds in a 3-1 loss at Rogers Place.

Zack Andrusiak scored the winning goal for the Thunderbirds with just under five minutes left in the third period. Austin Strand and Nolan Volcan, into an empty net, also scored for Seattle while Thunderbirds goaltender Matt Berlin made 23 saves.

Newly acquired defenceman Jantzen Leslie scored in his first game for the Oil Kings, which also happened to be his first WHL goal. Goaltender Boston Bilous made 16 saves for Edmonton.

Outside of the power play, the Oil Kings put up a good fight against the defending WHL champions, who are on the tail end of a sevengame road trip, which concludes Saturday against the Medicine Hat Tigers.

The Oil Kings outshot the Thunderbirds 12-5 in the first period with two power-play opportunities, but were unable to beat Berlin.

At the other end, Bilous had a relatively quite period facing six shots, although he did have to make an excellent save midway though the frame.

In the second, Edmonton had three power-play opportunities, which they were unable to convert on, despite spending an extended amount of time in the Thunderbirds zone.

At the other end, it took all of 10 seconds of the Thunderbirds to score on a second-period power play to take a 1-0 lead.

With Oil Kings forward Trey Fix-Wolansky in the penalty box for hooking, the Thunderbirds won the draw and threw the puck around the zone where defenceman Reece Harsch teed up a shot for Austin Strand at the left faceoff circle. Strand wired a one-timer over the shoulder of Bilous.

The Oil Kings penalty kill has been cause for concern all season. Going into the contest, Edmonton had the worst penalty-killing unit in the league, functioning at a 66.7 per cent efficiency rating.

Their power play wasn’t much better, clicking at 18.6 per cent.

Added together, at 85.3, the Oil Kings were well below the 100 standard considered as the benchmark for effective special teams.

By comparison, the Thunderbirds came into the game with the third-best power play in the league, scoring at a rate of 30.4 per cent. Their penalty kill was at 80.9 per cent, giving them a total of 111.3.

Seattle converted on one of their four power-play opportunities.

The Oil Kings tied the game in the third period when Leslie snapped a shot from the point, which hit a Thunderbirds defenceman in front and bounce in past Berlin. Leslie played 64 games with the Blades last season and four this season without scoring a goal.

Andrusiak put the Thunderbirds ahead with 4:46 left in the period, following a turnover by Oil Kings defenceman Ethan Cap in front of his own net. Cap’s pass out from the front of his net hit a skate and bounced to Andrusiak, who wired a shot over Bilous from in tight.

Volcan scored with 21.8 seconds left with Bilous pulled for the extra attacker.

The Oil Kings were playing the fifth of a six-game home stand, which concludes Saturday against the Saskatoon Blades on Star Wars night. The Oil Kings will wear special commemorative jerseys for the contest, which will be auctioned off after the game with proceeds going Sorrentino’s Compassion House, which supports women battling cancer by providing affordable accommodation in Edmonton.