It was Star Wars night at Rogers Place for the fourth matchup of the season between the Oil Kings and Hitmen. Both teams came into this one looking to redeem themselves after each lost in a shootout Friday night. The Oil Kings saw their 3-0 lead slip away in the third period against Lethbridge before ultimately losing to the Hurricanes in a shootout, while the Hitmen came out on the wrong side of a tight game against the Tri-City Americans despite putting up 49 shots on goal in the shootout loss.
The game, unfortunately, started in a way that nobody wants to see. After taking a hit along the Oil Kings bench, Jacson Alexander went down to the ice and had to be taken off on a stretcher.
“Jacson’s a tough kid, and he’s battled through a lot, so thoughts and prayers to him,” stated Oil Kings forward Josh Williams on his teammate. “It gave us a little extra to play for because we wanted to win for him, and we got it done.”
The Oil Kings were able to regroup themselves after seeing a teammate go down, responding with a tip-in goal from Williams off a point shot from Matthew Robertson.
Edmonton appeared motivated to control the pace of the game early on after blowing their big lead the night before. They were able to hold the Calgary Hitmen to just two shots on net through the first 20 minutes of play, even in spite of Calgary getting a couple of early power-play opportunities. The Hitmen didn’t generate their first shot on goal until the last five minutes of the opening frame.
The game became a physical battle in the second, beginning with an unlikely suspect, to say the least. 16-year-old Keegan Slaney dropped the mitts against Hunter Campell, foreshadowing a physical night for both teams.
The Oil Kings evidently carried a lot of momentum from the fight, as one of Slaney’s biggest mentors, Ethan Cap, responded with his second goal of the season just moments later to grow Edmonton’s lead to 2-0.
Calgary struggled mightily to get any pucks towards Oil Kings goaltender Todd Scott all game, and their frustration was visibly starting to boil over in the second period. Once the team began running around, they didn’t stop. The result was 28 minutes in penalties, and a whopping nine penalty kills that extinguished any chance the Hitmen had at gaining control of the game.
“That’s what teams want to do against us being a smaller quicker team,” said Oil Kings head coach Brad Lauer. “I think we’ve handled it quite well this year.”
Edmonton was able to stay disciplined as the Hitmen continued their attempts to get under the team’s skin. While Edmonton avoided taking any retaliation penalties, they still managed to stick up for themselves. Ethan McIndoe also shed his gloves for the game’s second fight of the night to show Calgary that they won’t back down from their physical play.
The Oil Kings put Hitmen goaltender Brayden Peters under siege during their plentiful opportunities on the man advantage. However, the 17-year-old netminder held the Oil Kings to just one power-play goal on the night that didn’t come until the third period. Edmonton’s lone power-play goal came from 2020 NHL Draft prospect Jake Neighbours, who had all the time in the world to walk in and deliver a laser of a bar down shot past Peters to make the game 4-1.
Jonas Peterek added one more to the Calgary scoresheet before the end of the game. He fed a rebound through a scramble in front of Scott’s net with just under five minutes left in the third period. The goal brought the game to the final score of 4-2 in favor of the Oil Kings, who get back into the win column after a two-game losing skid.
“We’re in a tough stretch of our season right now, playing a lot of good teams, so every win right now is huge, and to get back in the win column was big for us,” said Williams who scored two goals on the night, put up 10 shots on goal, and was named the game’s first star. Williams is now tied with Riley Sawchuk for the team lead in goals scored with ten on the season.
Oil Spill…
- The three stars of the game were 1) Josh Williams 2) Jake Neighbours 3) Matthew Robertson.
- Shots on goal finished at of 39-15 in favor of the Oil Kings.
- Edmonton’s power play went 1-for-8, while Calgary went 0-for-3 on the man advantage.
- A total of 44 penalty minutes were handed out in the game.
- Riley Sawchuk and Jake Neighbours are both currently riding eight-game point streaks
The Oil Kings play next on Remembrance day at Rogers Place against the Tri-City Americans. Puck drops at 2:00 pm MST, and you can get your tickets here.
