Oil Kings open second round with win over Rebels
The Oil Kings kept their Western Hockey League playoff ball rolling, winning their fifth consecutive game of the post-season.
After sweeping the Lethbridge Hurricanes in the opening round, the Oil Kings defeated the Red Deer Rebels 4-0 in Game 1 of their second-round series at Rogers Place on Thursday.
Dylan Guenther, Simon Kubicek, Kaiden Guhle and Dawson Seitz scored for the Oil Kings, while Sebastian Cossa made 18 saves for his second shutout of the playoffs.
Chase Coward gave up four goals on 27 shots for the Rebels before being replaced by Connor Ungar in the third period. Ungar made eight saves in mop-up duty.
With the win the Oil Kings took a 1-0 lead in the best-of seven series. Game 2 is at Rogers Place on Saturday (7 p.m.) before the scene shifts to Red Deer on Monday and Wednesday for Games 3 and 4.
The Rebels went into the series having dispatched the Brandon Wheat Kings in six games in the first round. Red Deer claimed the series with a triple-overtime victory in Game 6 in Brandon on Sunday.
On Thursday, the Oil Kings were the fresher team and took the play to the Rebels from the opening faceoff. The Oil Kings outshot the Rebels 15-6 in the opening frame, but Guenther was the only one to beat Coward in the period.
Guenther scored his fifth of the playoffs midway through the opening period. He took a pass from Guhle, who took the puck into the zone and circled the net, and snapped a shot past Coward on the short side.
A first-round pick of the Arizona Coyotes in last year's NHL draft, Guenther has one of the best shots in the league and Coward had little chance of stopping it from the right faceoff circle.
Kubicek increased the lead to 2-0 a little more than six minutes into the second period when his shot was kicked into the net by Rebels defenceman Jace Weir. Kubicek's shot from the high slot was deflected and didn't make it to the net and Weir inadvertently kicked it into his own net trying to control the puck.
Guhle made it 3-0 with five minutes left in the period, taking a pass from Jakub Demek at the left faceoff circle and snapping a shot past Coward.
Demek paid the price for the assist as he was belted by Rebels defenceman Kyle Masters trying to fish the puck out of his skates.
Demek stayed down and needed help getting off the ice. He did not return for the rest of the contest.
Just before the end of the period, Seitz gave the Oil Kings a 4-0 lead with his second goal of the playoffs. The Oil Kings forward had an easy tap-in on a rebound off a shot from Jake Neighbours.
Despite the lopsided victory in Game 1, the Oil Kings are expecting a tougher series from the Rebels than they got from Lethbridge in the first round.
The Rebels beat the Oil Kings five of the 10 times they faced each other this during the regular season, twice in overtime, which was the most of any team in the WHL.
The Oil Kings finished second in the Eastern Conference standings with a 50-14-3-1 record, seven points behind the Winnipeg Ice and 10 ahead of the Rebels.
Having been denied a chance to play for a WHL championship the past two seasons due to the COVID -19 pandemic, the Oil Kings went all-in this season in a quest for another league title and berth into the Memorial Cup tournament, taking place in Saint John, N.B., from June 20-29.
The Oil Kings last won the WHL championship and Memorial Cup title in 2014. They were the last team from the WHL to win the national championship tournament.
Things got chippy in the third, and both teams ended up with short benches as referees started handing out misconducts in an attempt to keep control of the contest.
The Oil Kings ended up with three forwards and three defencemen on the bench to finish the contest. Red Deer had seven forwards and two defencemen left on their bench at the end of the game.