OIL KINGS CLOSE IN ON THE SERIES SWEEP
Edmonton wins on the road to push Lethbridge to brink of elimination
Three down, one to go. Their opening-round series of the Western Hockey League playoffs may have switched to the southern locale of Enmax Centre, but the result was the same as the Edmonton Oil Kings captured their third win in as many games on the strength of a 4-1 victory over the Lethbridge Hurricanes on Tuesday.
That gives Edmonton a 3-0 series lead as the host Hurricanes are now in danger of being swept from their post-season path almost as soon as the journey began.
Edmonton's playoff road map, meanwhile, has had an X squarely marked on the Memorial Cup tournament in Saint John, N.B. And their initial steps have been going according to plan, so far.
The Oil Kings were first on the scoreboard with the only goal of the opening period, as Carter Souch jumped on a loose puck sitting strangely still in front of the Lethbridge crease, with Jalen Luypen deflecting it on the way by just 2:21 into the game.
It was the second playoff goal of Luypen's career, both coming in this series, after spending his rookie year as a post-season spectator in 2018-19, before the next two playoffs were cancelled by COVID -19.
“When I was 16, I watched every game in playoffs,” Luypen said. “So, for me to have my first games ... I've been holding it in for so long.
“Back then, when I was 16, looking at guys like Trey (Fix-wolansky) and Benji (Quinn Benjafield) and Vinny (Loschiavo). They took themselves so seriously, but at the end of the day, they were still themselves. They were so comfortable, but when it came puck drop, they were so serious about it. It was time to do their job.”
Not that this year's crop of Oil Kings are trying to pretend to be anyone else, either.
“We all have our personal goals, but I think at the end of the day, we're all just trying to play our game,” Luypen said.
“It's playoffs, but we don't want to change who we are. We just want to be ourselves out there and just go and play.”
The goal came on Edmonton's first shot of the game, which proved significant considering Lethbridge didn't record their first shot in return until just after the halfway mark of the first period.
At one point, Edmonton led 14-1 in shots, with half of them coming on a power play where Dylan Guenther — who came in having scored a pair on the man advantage against Lethbridge in the first two games — raised his arms thinking he scored on a one-time effort, only to get turned aside by Bryan Thompson.
Shots ended up 17-7 after the first period, thanks in part to a penalty against Logan Dowhaniuk, who was called for taking a shot on Thompson after the whistle was blown on an offside call. Jake Neighbours got away with the same thing earlier in the period, to the ire of the Hurricanes.
Kaiden Guhle opened the second-period scoring just 1:56 in, entering the zone as the trailing defenceman before sniping a shot from the high slot to put Edmonton ahead 2-0.
Souch then made it 3-0 on the power play, when he found himself on the deflection side of the equation on a Luke Prokop shot 11:03 into the middle frame, with Luypen getting an assist this time.
Shots were 31-13 for Edmonton heading into Period 3, where Lethbridge finally got on the board 3:18 in, complements of Yegor Klavdiev on the power play after Guhle drove the Hurricanes' Ty Nash into the boards after the whistle.
But Guenther reestablished Edmonton's three-goal lead with his third playoff goal in as many games, initially losing the puck in front of the Lethbridge net, as Hurricanes winger Brayden Edwards momentarily stripped him of the puck. But Guenther got it right back and fired it high past Thompson with 8:47 left in the game.
Next up: The Oil Kings face the Hurricanes in Game 4 Thursday at Enmax Centre, with the series scheduled to return to Edmonton for Game 5 Saturday (2 p.m.), if necessary.