The Edmonton Oil Kings kicked the new year off with a bang in all departments.
They started the day by making a huge splash to acquire one of the best netminders in the WHL in Beck Warm. The fee wasn’t too high for the Oil Kings who gave up goaltender Carter Gylander (‘01), forward Cade Littler (‘04), a 2021 second-round pick, and a 2022 fourth-round pick.
Adam Girard has a full trade breakdown available for you here.
The team then followed that up with a huge come-from-behind win over the Everett Silvertips. Dylan Guenther continued his hot streak for the Oil Kings, scoring the goal that spurred the comeback, and then also picked up an assist on the goal that gave Edmonton a 3-2 lead.
However, the contest didn’t start so great for the hometown Oil Kings.
In front of a packed Rogers Place, the Everett Silvertips jumped on Edmonton, quickly scoring two goals in the opening five minutes. Gage Goncalves pounced on the loose puck in front of Sebastian Cossa to give Everett a 1-0 lead 2:15 into the game. The Silvertips continued to put pressure on the Oil Kings, adding their second a few moments later. Cossa stopped the original two shots but couldn’t prevent the third chance from Michal Gut, making it 2-0 early on.
Edmonton showed a ton of fight, literally, to get themselves back in the game. Jake Neighbours dropped the gloves with Conrad Mitchell, and then, soon after, Ethan McIndoe did the same with Parker Hendren.
For two teams that rarely face-off against one another, this turned out to be a very feisty affair at Rogers.
“They came out very aggressive against us, and they initiated the physicality for us really early,” said head coach Brad Lauer. “They kind of pulled us into the battle, and that’s a good hockey team over there, and I like the way we responded to them.”
In the second period, the Oil Kings came out of the locker room a much-rejuvenated team and really took the game to the Silvertips. The opening eight minutes were back-and-forth hockey, but you could see the ice begin to tip a little more in Edmonton’s favour around the midway point. There was one shift in particular from the Williams – Keeler – Souch line that seemed to be the turning point. They put immense pressure on the Silvertips, and from that point on, the Oil Kings never looked back.
Guenther got them on the board on the power play with his 13th of the season with Neighbours and Matthew Robertson picking up assists.
That goal was quickly followed by another power-play goal from Carter Souch which tied the game up at 2-2 which is how the first 40 minutes ended.
Liam Keeler gave the Oil Kings their first lead of the game at the seven-minute mark of the third, going back down on Keegan Karki in the Silvertips net. However, that lead only lasted 15 seconds.
Bryce Kindopp got a fortunate goal for Everett after Cossa made the initial stop but the puck still managed to trickle by him to make it 3-3.
After 60 minutes, the two teams were still locked at 3-3 which meant we were going to overtime.
The Oil Kings thought they had won the game when Neighbours tipped in a point shot. However, the officials ruled the goal out for a high stick, and after a review, the decision stayed the same.
Souch came close to ending it on a breakaway but was denied by Karki.
In the shootout, Guenther and Josh Williams scored for the Oil Kings while Cossa stopped two of the three shooters to give the Oil Kings a 4-3 SO win over the Silvertips.
“The record’s good but not seeing them and not knowing their game I think caused us to hesitate a little in the first period,” commented Lauer on his team’s start. “Once we got going and started to play our game, I thought we played very well in the final 40 minutes.”
Oil Spill….
Samuel Stewart made his home debut for the Oil Kings after being acquired from the Tri-City Americans last week. The Winnipeg native finished with two shots on goal.
“I’m just really excited to be here,” said Samuel Stewart on joining the Oil Kings. “It’s a great team, a great facility, and great people.”
Following the action, the three stars were named as 1. Dylan Guenther, 2. Josh Williams, and 3. Gage Goncalves.
The Oil Kings power play was deadly and proved to be the difference, as they scored on two of three attempts. Their penalty kill was also perfect against the Silvertips one power play.