Oil Kings fall to Hitmen on the road

HITMEN 4, OIL KINGS 1

The Edmonton Oil Kings came up short, on the road, against the Calgary Hitmen on Friday.

Jake Kryski scored twice to lead the Hitmen to a 4-1 victory, and in the process, lift Calgary ahead of Edmonton in the WHL Central Division standings.

Carson Focht and Jakob Stukel also scored for Calgary (19-33-5-2) and goaltender Nick Schneider made 14 saves.

Tomas Soustal scored the lone goal for the Oil Kings (18-34-5-2) who have lost three of their last four games after winning three straight for the first time this season. Josh Dechaine made 22 saves for Edmonton.

Focht opened the scoring at 11:56 of the first period to give the Hitmen a 1-0 lead.

Kryski scored on the power play 1:22 into the second period to put Calgary up 2-0.

Soustal pulled one back just over three minutes later on an excellent individual effort.

The goal was Soustal’s 17th of the season.

Kryski restored Calgary’s twogoal lead just over 90 seconds later with his 13th goal of the season.

Stukel scored with 2:57 left in the second to increase Calgary’s lead to 4-1.

Neither team were able to score in a lacklustre third period, which saw the teams combine for just 13 shots.

The Oil Kings return home to host the Prince Albert Raiders on Saturday (7 p.m.) at Rogers Place. They ’ll then host the Swift Current Broncos on Sunday afternoon.