It was a highlight-reel night for the Edmonton Oil Kings as they put six by the red-hot Brandon Wheat Kings at Rogers Place.
Beck Warm got the start between the pipes for the Oil Kings. He put together a solid performance, turning aside 31 of the 33 shots he faced. The evening didn’t start so fondly for him and the home team, though.
A Vincent Iorio point shot into the crowded net-front was tipped in by Ben McCartney. Warm did get a piece of it, but it wasn’t enough to stop Brandon from taking a 1-0 lead.
However, up until that point, the Oil Kings had been the better team of the two. Josh Williams and Ethan McIndoe both had great opportunities to open the scoring but were denied by Jiri Patera.
Riley Sawchuk managed to crack the Patera code, though, when he went bar down on the power play to tie the game. The walk-in and delay from Jake Neighbours opened up space for Sawchuk on the faceoff dot who made no mistake, scoring his 21st of the year.
The Oil Kings went into the first intermission with a 2-1 lead.
That second goal came from Sawchuk once again, whose quick release caught out Patera to double his goal tally.
Sawchuk wasn’t the only Oil King to get a pair in the win.
Vladimir Alistrov scored the game-winner and the insurance goal and sent fans home even happier as he netted his first goal during the Popeyes minute. The Belarusian star scored his goals in quick succession which all but guaranteed a win for the Oil Kings.
The Oil Kings added two more in the final 20. Matthew Robertson got the fifth after he jumped up into the attack for his 11th of the year. Then, Dylan Guenther scored what could be the goal of the season.
The rookie forward fearlessly skated at three Brandon players, passed the puck to himself and somehow made it through and beat the Wheat Kings netminder, making it 6-2. You can watch the goal here.
Brandon added one more goal in the final frame from Jack Chiasson. The Wheat Kings outshot the Oil Kings 22-19 in the last 40 minutes but didn’t take advantage of their opportunities, falling 6-2 to the Oil Kings.
Oil Spill…
- Three Stars: 1) Riley Sawchuk, 2) Vladimir Alistrov, 3) Dylan Guenther
- Power play: Oil Kings 1-for-4, Wheat Kings 0-for-3
- Shots: 35-33 in favour of the Oil Kings
Next up, the Oil Kings are on home ice as they host the Winnipeg ICE at Rogers Place on Saturday night. Puck drops at 7:00 p.m.
