Franchise Playoff History:
2014 Eastern Conference finals Edmonton won 4-1
This was the season Edmonton won it all, losing just five times in the playoffs en route to the Ed Chynoweth Cup. The five game series wasn’t really ever close, Edmonton opened the series with an 8-3 win. The remaining four games were decided by three or less goals but it was Edmonton with their foot on the pedal, setting up a WHL final with the Portland Winterhawks.
2018-19 Head-To-Head:
Medicine Hat: 1-3-2-0
Edmonton: 5-0-0-1
Despite Edmonton winning five of the six games in the season series, only two games were won by more than one goal in the entire series. Three of the six games went into extra time.
Edmonton had six points from Trey Fix-Wolansky and Vince Loschiavo while Medicine Hat countered with Ryan Chyzowski and his five points.
Edmonton did outscore Medicine Hat 21-11 over their six game set, due in large part to a recent 5-0 shutout win for the Oil Kings
2018-19 Season:
Edmonton: (42-18-4-4) 92 points 259 Goals For 196 Goals Against, the only team in the Central Division to allow less than 200 goals against.
Medicine Hat: (35-27-4-2) 76 points 217 Goals for 222 Goals against, the lowest scoring of all playoff teams in the Eastern Conference.
Storylines To Watch:
Is Mads Sogaard ready to lead the Tigers in the playoffs? In mid-February he and the Tigers went through a slump that saw the team fall from Division title contention to nearly out of the playoffs. The rookie netminder did have a good season overall, posting a 19-8-2-2 record to go with a 2.64 goals against average and .921 save percentage. The Tigers need Sogaard to stay on track.
Will Trey Fix-Wolansky continue his MVP-like season? Will the Oil Kings find the right support for him? Vince Loschiavo finished 40 points behind him following the regular season, no division winning team had less support for their top scorer than Edmonton. The supporting cast will need to contribute more than they did in the regular season to taste playoff success.
Both team’s power plays are ranked in the top half of the WHL, Edmonton comes in seventh and Medicine Hat eighth. Where Medicine Hat will need to concern themselves is the penalty kill. Their penalty kill is ranked 13th overall, four spots and three percentage points lower than Edmonton. The team will need to continue not taking penalties, they took a league low 7.4 penalty minutes per game average. Edmonton ranked just slightly higher at 10.3
How They Match Up:
Edmonton was pretty dominant over Medicine Hat through their season series despite just the two games being decided by more than two goals. Edmonton has five players that scored over 45 points and Medicine Hat had six. James Hamblin, with 77 points and Ryan Jevne with 68 led the way for the Tigers. The Oil Kings were powered by Fix-Wolansky’s 102 points and Loschiavo’s 62.
Even in goal the Oil Kings and the Tigers are a much better match than their records suggest. Sogaard was mentioned above, and Dylan Myskiw was even better. Myskiw had a 28-11-2-3 record in 45 games. He had a slightly better goals against average at 2.53 and a slightly lower save percentage at .914%.
DUBNetwork Prediction: Edmonton in six games.
