Goalie Lee stands tall for Oil Kings in shutout 1-0 victory over Silvertips
Payton Lee’s time in the Edmonton Oil Kings’ crease has been an up and down roller-coaster ride.
Yet the 19-year-old goaltender from Cranbrook, in the midst of his fifth Western Hockey League season, has begun to cement himself between the pipes with reliable goaltending for the Oil Kings after being acquired from the Vancouver Giants in early November for a sixth-round draft pick in 2016.
Lee started his fourth consecutive game in Friday’s 1-0 shutout victory over the U.S. divisionleading Everett Silvertips at Rexall Place. Lee’s 27-save shutout performance was the first shutout for an Oil Kings goaltender this season.
It was no surprise that the Oil Kings had a tough time scoring against the best defensive team in the WHL and top goaltending prospect Carter Hart. The Silvertips have allowed a league-low 94 goals this season, and Hart’s league-leading 1.96 goals against average and .929 save percentage are major reasons for that.
Lee himself went save for save against Hart through the first two periods, finding pucks through traffic with pad stops on the penalty kill and denying Silvertips’ centre Brian King twice, generating appreciative cheers from the sizable crowd of 5,794.
“I thought his saves were very, very timely,” Hamilton said. “We had a couple of pretty substantial breakdowns and he stood tall. I thought he was very composed tonight.
The game remained scoreless until Dario Meyer slipped a shot through Hart’s five-hole on the power play 8:33 into the third period to break the goose egg Oil Kings.
Lee officially began his stint with the Oil Kings Nov. 7, serving as Patrick Dea’s backup for two games before getting his first start for Edmonton in a blowout 6-1 road loss to the Prince George Cougars.
Lee sat as Dea’s backup for three more games before getting another start and showing what he can really do Nov. 27, when he stopped 25 shots to help defeat the Prince Albert Raiders 5-1 on the road.
Still, Lee was back on the bench for the next five games. He lost his next start 5-4 on the road to the Medicine Hat Tigers Dec. 13, despite making 36 saves.
Lee won his next three starts before replacing Dea in the first period against the Calgary Hitmen Jan. 9 in a devastating 4-3 overtime loss that saw the goaltender fumble the puck out of his glove and into his own net in the extra period.
Since that forgettable night, Lee has started five of the last six games. His most confident outing prior to Friday’s game was Tuesday’s 3-1 home victory over the Moose Jaw Warriors, during which Lee made 32 saves and was seven minutes shy of posting the first shutout of the season for an Oil Kings goalie.
Expect to see Lee back in goal when the Oil Kings travel to Lethbridge to take on the Hurricanes Sunday at 6 p.m.