Winterhawks punish lacklustre Oil Kings
EDMONTON — Slow, slower, slowest.
That’s the pattern that the Edmonton Oil Kings are on in their Western Hockey League championship series with the Portland Winterhawks, starting each game of the series a little slower than the previous one. Against a talented team like the Winterhawks, the result is a predictable one and in their slowest start yet, the Oil Kings allowed three first-period goals to do them in as part of a 3-1 loss to the Winterhawks.
Portland now leads the series 2-1, with Game 4 going Wednesday night at Rexall Place.
The Oil Kings were outshot 16-1 in Game 1 but overcame a bad first period to pull out a 4-1 win. They managed just three shots on net in the first period of Game 2 and lost 3-0. On Tuesday, Taylor Leier’s wrist shot bounced between Flames prospect Laurent Brossoit’s pads and in behind him at 4:39, giving Portland a 1-0 lead on just its fourth shot on net. Shot No. 5 made it a 2-0 game at 8:14. Airdrie’s Ty Rattie and teammate Nicolas Petan played a two-on-one perfectly, with Rattie wristing a shot past Brossoit for his 17th goal of the playoffs.
With each goal, the Oil Kings looked more lifeless and the crowd grew more silent. Just when Edmonton had started to show signs of life — Michael St. Croix’s swing at an airborne puck was a fraction of a second off — Oliver Bjorkstrand sprung loose for a short breakaway at 15:48. His pretty backhand move lost Brossoit and his second goal of the series made it 3-0.
The Oil Kings slinked off of the ice with salt in the wound, unable to capitalize on a Derrick Pouliot highsticking call at 17:47, stretching their power play drought to 0-for-25.
Brossoit led the Oil Kings onto the ice for the second period and it took almost another 10 minutes of play before the Oil Kings burst out of their malaise. St. Croix finished a pretty tic-tac-toe setup from his linemates, Dylan Wruck and T.J. Foster, at 9:13 to finally give the home crowd something to cheer about. A pair of penalties against Edmonton (Brandon Baddock for kneeing Josh Hanson at 11:18 and Cody Corbett for high-sticking at 14:47) slowed them down, but the Oil Kings managed to stop the bleeding in the game’s middle frame. Getting to Portland goalie Mac Carruth — even getting in front of the goalie with the puck — was the top item on the to-do list for the third period.
The Oil Kings began to do just that in the third. Travis Ewanyk’s tip attempt in front of the net just missed the goal near the 7:30 mark and for the first time in the series, the Oil Kings went ahead in the shot count. In net, Brossoit survived a big test at 12:57 when he made a flashy stop against Bjorkstrand at the side of the net. On the other end just seconds later, Carruth responded with a big pad save on a Lazar move.
Carruth was on top of the play at 16:57 when Wruck and St. Croix set up Foster in front of the net, diving on the shot attempt and covering up the rebound with his glove. The goalie was his edgy self the entire night, getting into it verbally with Stephane Legault and T.J. Foster late in the game. The Oil Kings will look for a better start on Wednesday, with the threat of a 3-1 series deficit staring at them.