Oil Kings silence Canes
The Lethbridge Hurricanes big guns have fallen silent. The Hurricanes were downed 4-1 by the Edmonton Oil Kings in Western Hockey League play Sunday afternoon in Edmonton. The Oil Kings held the Canes scoreless for the first two periods before Jake Elmer found a way past Edmonton goaltender Todd Scott 8:02 into the third.
The loss puts the Hurricanes at 23-12-4-4 as the Oil Kings slip past Lethbridge and into first place in the Central Division by one point at 2414-4-3.
It was the third meeting in a week between the two teams with Hurricanes beating the Oil Kings 52 last Sunday in Edmonton before the Oil Kings returned the favour with a 5-1 win Friday night at the Enmax Centre.
On Saturday night at the Enmax Centre, the Hurricanes and Kootenay Ice skated through two scoreless periods before the teams started finding the back of the net in a 3-2 Hurricanes win.
But on Sunday in Edmonton, Liam Keeler sniped a pair in the first period — the second shorthanded that also stood up as the game winner — for all the offence the hosts would need to lock up the win and take over first in the Central Division.
Vince Loschiavo added his 21st of the season 5:41 into the second and Trey Fix-Wolansky added a man advantage goal 3:33 into the third.
The Hurricanes avoided the goose egg and struck on the power play when Elmer hit the 20-goal mark a little over eight minutes into the third.
Elmer’s 20th goal gives the Hurricanes five 20-plus goal scorers this season.
But it didn’t help their cause Sunday as Todd made 31 saves and Hurricanes goaltender Liam Hughes stopped 29 of 33 in the loss.
The Oil Kings outshot the Hurricanes 29-26 as both teams went 1-for-5 on the man advantage.
On Saturday night, Logan Barlage, Dyan Cozens and Jordy Bellerive — shorthanded and in an empty net — scored for Lethbridge in the third period while hometown product Carl Tetachuk stopped 29 shots in the win.
The Central Division race heats up this weekend when the Canes face the Red Deer Rebels in a home-and-home series starting Friday night at 7 p.m. at the Enmax Centre before heading to Red Deer Saturday night, also at 7 p.m.