Oil Kings withstand challenge from Tigers
The Edmonton Oil Kings were expecting a tough test against the Medicine Hat Tigers in their third game of the Western Hockey League season and got one Wednesday at Rogers Place.
The Oil Kings were forced to battle back from a two-goal deficit in a 3-2 win to improve their record to 3-0-0 on the season.
Andrei Pavlenko scored the go-ahead goal midway through the third period, which stood as the game winner. The goal was Pavelenko’s first of the season.
Brett Kemp scored twice for the Oil Kings, while Bryan Lockner and Eric Van Impe responded for the visitors.
Goaltender Dylan Myskiw made 33 saves in the win for the Oil Kings, while Jordan Hollett took the loss, stopping 30 shots.
“Obviously, Medicine Hat is (one of the) teams in the league that is recognized, virtually every year they’re up there,” said Oil Kings head coach Brad Lauer.
“So it was a good game for us. I thought we hung in there. Obviously to get down two wasn’t what we wanted, but we were resilient and we were able to tie it up.”
MYSKIW NEARLY PULLS OFF HEIST
Myskiw, 19, made his second consecutive start for the Oil Kings on Wednesday and appeared to have an early candidate for save of the season in the first period.
Myskiw looked to have made a diving stick save on Lockner midway through the first period following a scramble in front on the power play.
Initially play was allowed to continue after the save, but referees had the play reviewed and it was determined the puck had just crossed the goal-line before Myskiw got a stick on it.
“Without real review, I don’t know how they can call it,” Lauer said “If they would have called it a goal, would they have called it back if it wasn’t in? I don’t know. It’s one of those things, it’s adversity that we have to deal with and I thought our guys handled it quite well, they didn’t get too worked up about it, we stayed level-head about it and did what we had to do.”
Myskiw was acquired from the Brandon Wheat Kings just over a week ago after Todd Scott, 18, and Sebastien Cossa, 15, both sustained injuries late in the pre-season.
Myskiw was the Wheat Kings’ starting goaltender toward the end of last season and backstopped them to an upset victory over the Medicine Hat Tigers in the first round of playoffs before losing out to the Lethbridge Hurricanes in the second.
Myskiw was beaten in the second period on a long, high shot from defenceman Van Impe, which handcuffed him and snuck into the net.
After falling behind 2-0, Myskiw then made a number of key saves to keep the Tigers from expanding their lead.
The Oil Kings were eventually able to battle back and win the contest.
The Winnipeg product made 16 saves in the second period for the Oil Kings. He turned away 28 shots in a 4-1 victory at the Red Deer Rebels this past Saturday.
KEMP OFF TO STRONG START
Kemp, 18, has three goals in three games for the Oil Kings this season playing on the second line with Carter Souch, 16, and Quinn Benjafield, 20.
Kemp is in his third WHL season. He had 17 goals and 36 points in 69 games with the Oil Kings last season and is expected to surpass that total this year. He attended the Vegas Golden Knights rookie camp earlier in September on a free-agent invite.
He started the comeback for the Oil Kings with just over five minutes left in the second period, taking a pass from Souch and going in on a breakaway where he slid the puck past Hollett.
Kemp then tied the Game 2 minutes later taking a pass from Benjafield and snapping a shot over Hollett. Oil Kings defenceman Logan Dowhaniuk, 16, got into his first game of the season and attempted to make his presence felt with authority.
The Sherwood Park product was selected by the Oil Kings in the second round (26th overall) of the 2017 WHL Bantam Draft. He was called up to play four games as an underage player last season and did not register a point.
Dowhaniuk threw a couple of big hits in the first period, playing on the Oil Kings third pairing with Ethan Cap. Dowhaniuk is the youngest of eight defencemen currently on the Oil Kings roster.
FIRST POINT FOR IMPORT
The Oil Kings are excited about their import forward Vladimir Alistrov, 17, with good reason.
The second pick in the CHL Import Draft has an abundance of skill and displayed it setting up the winning goal in the third period.
Alistrov took the original shot and then got to the rebound, which resulted in Pavlenko’s game winner. It was the first point for Alistrov this season.
“He’s got a huge upside,” Lauer said.
“He’s moving away from home to a different country and not knowing the language, he’s got a lot of different things going on. Then there’s hockey.
“He’s growing, he’s learning and he’s developing and it’s going to take some time, but I think when Christmas comes around, he’s going to be one of those players in the league that are going to be pretty impressive to watch.”
STILL GOING STRONG
Legendary WHL broadcaster Bob Ridley was in the visitor’s radio booth working his 49th season of Tigers hockey.
Ridley has been calling Tigers games since their inception in 1970 and doubled as the team’s bus driver for a majority of that time.
Ridley still gets behind the wheel but solely in relief duty these days.