Oil Kings getting crash course in playoff hockey
Things didn’t look promising for the Edmonton Oil Kings. They were down a game, in hostile territory, and trailing by a goal midway through Game 4 of their Western Hockey League playoff series against the Medicine Hat Tigers on Wednesday.
Yet, after an outstanding save by Edmonton goaltender Todd Scott, a three-goal barrage inside of two minutes restored order for the Oil Kings en route to a 5-1 victory, putting them back in control of the best-of-seven series with Game 5 at Rogers Place (7 p.m.) on Friday.
“That was the turning point of the game,” said Oil Kings captain Trey Fix-Wolansky. “We just wanted to keep going. You can’t get down on yourself and you can’t get too frustrated. Things aren’t always going to go your way. You just have to persevere through that and battle through that and you’re going to have success.”
As they did in the first two games of the series, the Oil Kings outplayed the Tigers but weren’t being rewarded for their efforts. They outshot the Tigers 36-15 on Wednesday.
Medicine Hat won the opener 2-1, despite being outshot 50-27.
The Oil Kings took Game 2 by a 4-3 margin, outshooting the Tigers 41-21.
In Game 3, the Oil Kings were outshot 34-32 and lost 5-0.
“In Game 3, I’d say our team didn’t play to the best of our abilities and it showed,” Fix-Wolansky said. “We knew what we had to do going into Game 4 and we did that. It was a great comeback in Game 4 for our team.”
The Oil Kings went into the series with a serious lack of post-season experience, having missed the playoffs the previous two seasons. They only have three players with previous playoff experience.
Now four games into their series with the Tigers, the young Oil Kings are beginning to understand the intricacies of playoff hockey.
“We’re getting into the groove of things,” Fix-Wolansky said. “Obviously, there isn’t much experience in that dressing room. The few guys who have been there have helped the guys who haven’t quite a bit.”
On Wednesday, the three veterans with experience — Quinn Benjafield, Andrew Fyten and Vince Loschiavo — pulled the team up by their collective bootstraps and changed the course of the contest. Benjafield scored to tie the game, Fyten put the Oil Kings ahead and Loschiavo scored the insurance marker, his first of two goals on the night.
“I think guys are understanding playoff hockey,” said Oil Kings head coach Brad Lauer. “These four games have definitely given them a taste of what playoff hockey is like, the emotion part of it, the highs and lows and stuff like that. They’re definitely learning from it and that’s important as a group as they move along here.
“That should help our group moving forward, but we’re playing a team with a lot of similarities, who are good, and every game we played against them during the regular season was close. We have to play our best again on Friday night.”
While the momentum is back with the Oil Kings as they host the pivotal fifth game of the series, the pressure is also squarely back on them to win the contest. A loss would have the Oil Kings facing elimination in Game 6 heading back to Medicine Hat on Sunday.
“We have to use that home ice to our advantage and try to outplay them and get a step ahead on them,” Fix-Wolansky said.
The Oil Kings believe they can get to Tigers goaltender Mads Sogaard after scoring nine goals on him in their two wins over Medicine Hat.
“He’s played really good, but I think when we get shots to the net and bodies to the net, he struggles with that,” Fix-Wolansky said. “That’s been our focus, getting to the net and putting pucks there and crashing the blue paint.”
Two of the Oilers’ first three goals against the Tigers on Wednesday came on shots from the point that were tipped in past Sogaard.
“We’ve had two or three goals that we’ve tipped in past him,” Fix-Wolansky said. “Any time you can get pucks to the paint and get a stick on it there is going to be an opportunity for a goal.”