Oil Kings finish season with rare flourish

Out of the playoffs long ago, the Edmonton Oil Kings officially closed the book on the 2017-18 Western Hockey League season Sunday, but not before adding an exclamation point.

Destined to finish dead last in the standings (22-42-6-2), their fate didn’t stop them from defeating the Calgary Hitmen 7-3 in front of an announced crowd of 13,075 at the Saddledome to close out their schedule, wrapping up a homeand-away weekend series that began with a 7-1 loss the night before.

Nine different Oil Kings recorded points in the game, including five who found the back of the net behind Hitmen goaltender Nick Schneider, who made 19 saves in the loss.

Tomas Soustal, who played his final WHL game, and Robert Matthew both scored twice and combined for six points, while Brett Kemp’s power-play marker 13:04 in stood as the game-winning goal.

After Hitmen left-winger Riley Stotts opened the scoring just 49 seconds in, the Oil Kings responded with five consecutive goals in a span of 12:07 to take a commanding 5-2 lead into the second period. All five goals came on the power play, which finished 6-for-7.

Calgary was 2-for-6 as Todd Scott settled in after the opening minute to make 34 stops in the winning effort, finishing with a 4-5 record on the season as Calgary outshot the Oil Kings 37-26.

Trey Fix-Wolansky and Colton Kehler rounded out the goal scoring for the Oil Kings. In true team fashion, Fix-Wolansky set up Kehler for Edmonton’s final goal of the season as they both finished tied for the team lead with 32 goals apiece.

But it was Fix-Wolansky ending his sophomore WHL campaign with a club-leading 89 points.

Jake Neighbours pitched in with a pair of assists for his first multipoint game in the WHL.

Besides Stotts, Calgary (24-37-92) got goals from centre Cael Zimmermann and defenceman Egor Zamula.