Of the top three teams in the Central Division, the Edmonton Oil Kings have scored the fewest goals with 210. Not that it’s a low number, however, it is 13 fewer than Lethbridge and 21 fewer than Medicine Hat. When it comes to the same three teams, Edmonton has allowed by far the fewest goals.
With just 144 allowed, that’s 24 fewer than Lethbridge and 25 fewer than Medicine Hat. On Wednesday night in Winnipeg, the Oil Kings continued doing their thing and they completely shut down the ICE.
Powered by a one-goal, two-assist night from Ethan McIndoe and a solid goaltending performance from Sebastian Cossa, Edmonton beat the ICE, 5-0.
“Edmonton is the best team that we’ve played so far. If you don’t play as well as you can for every shift, they’ll make you pay,” said James Patrick after the game courtesy of winnipegice.ca. “I liked our first few minutes. The game turned into a track meet at times and we couldn’t keep up with them.”
The win snapped Winnipeg’s modest two-game winning streak as they took down Lethbridge and Medicine Hat recently.
Winnipeg’s record dropped to 34-21-1 with the loss. However, they’re still just two points back of Prince Albert for the top spot in the East Division.
“It was a humbling game. We were high for a couple of games and now we went down, that’s what happens in this game,” continued Patrick. “On every line, Edmonton has at least two guys that can skate and they backed us down.”
5:24 into the game, McIndoe netted his 14th of the season. At the 10:06 mark, Edmonton would double up their lead. McIndoe picked up his second point of the game, this time with the primary assist as he set up Liam Keeler who scored his 12th of the season to give the Oil Kings a 2-0 lead.
Overall, Edmonton scored twice on 10 first period shots while Cossa stopped all six shots he faced in the opening frame.
The second period brought some more Edmonton firepower. 5:45 in, Dylan Guenther lit the twine with his 22nd of the season and Vladimir Alistrov gave Edmonton a 4-0 goal just more than three minutes later.
Winnipeg would outshoot Edmonton in the second, but they couldn’t solve Cossa. The ICE managed 14 shots in the period while Edmonton mustered 11.
Nine minutes into the third, Matthew Robertson completely put the game out of reach with his 13th goal of the campaign. Cossa stopped another seven shots in the third for a 27 save shutout. Liam Hughes, meanwhile, started the game but he was pulled early in the second after giving up four goals. Gage Alexander went 18-for-19 in relief.
Edmonton improved to 38-9-6-3, good for 85 points, 10 more than the second-place Lethbridge Hurricanes. Edmonton is also tied with the Portland Winterhawks for the most points in the Western Hockey League.
Winnipeg doesn’t have to wait long to try and get some revenge. Their next game comes in Edmonton on Tuesday, February 25 when the team kicks off a four-game road trip, three of which will be played in Alberta.
ICINGS:
- Cossa earned his fourth shutout of the season, tied for the third-most in the league and he won his 20th game in the process.
- David Kope had three assists to join McIndoe as the two Oil Kings that had at least three points.
- Peyton Krebs had two shots for Winnipeg and he won 11-of-14 faceoffs.
