Andy Devlin

Edmonton comes back for 4-3 win and evens series with Medicine Hat

(Edmotnon, AB) Goals are at a premium in the post-season. The Central Division leading Edmonton Oil Kings were finding that out over the weekend against the wild card Medicine Hat Tigers.

Despite firing 50 shots on import goalie Mads Sogaard in Game 1, they only scored once and lost 2-1. Then on Sunday in Game 2, they fell behind 3-2 after two periods and were so close to falling down 2-0 in the series.

They found their scoring touch in the third though thanks to Carter Souch and Quinn Benjafield and escaped with a 4-3 win.

10 different Oil Kings found the score sheet in a balanced effort, while Linus Nassen led all scorers with two goals and an assist for three points.

“I think in the first game we looked very nervous and we weren’t able to quite find our game and I felt tonight we showed a lot more emotion. I think we got the outcome because of it.” Edmonton head coach Brad Lauer said after the game.

Benjafield agreed with that sentiment. “It’s definitely a little frustrating. we were getting lots of shots on their goalie and getting scoring chances but he’s their best player. I think we did a good job of sticking to structure tonight and it worked out for us,” Benjafield continued.

Mads Sogaard (photo-Andy Devlin)

It took Edmonton over 58 minutes to find pay dirt behind Sogaard in Game 1. In Game 2, the Oil Kings scored just 2:36 into the game.

Jake Neighbours sprung Josh Williams on a two-on-one with a nice outlet pass and Williams found a charging Liam Keeler, who beat Sogaard.

It was Keeler’s first goal in 26 games.

“You’ve got to learn from every situation. I think the first game on the shot clock it showed we had a lot of shots but we didn’t have any traffic and didn’t make it a tough night for the goalie. That was the main focus tonight. To keep the same shot volume but get to the front of the net and make it more difficult for their goalie to see the puck,” Lauer said.

Nassen then tied the game on the power play for Medicine Hat. James Hamblin drew the defense and lined up Nassen for a high zone one timer. The Swedish overage defenseman powered a shot low by Edmonton goalie Dylan Myskiw‘s left pad with 8:24 left in the first.

Myskiw had 18 saves on 21 shots.

Nassen added another a few minute slater to give the Tigers their first lead. He took a pass on the wing from Ryan Chyzowski and powered a drive through Myskiw’s five hole.

Nassen and his d-partner Dylan MacPherson then stepped up defensively to help maintain the Tigers’ lead. With Sogaard sprawled out of the net, they both blocked shots from Edmonton.

The Oil Kings used a power-play goal of their own to tie the game back up.

Conner McDonald worked the puck over, up high to Vince Loschiavo for a one timer. The overage forward notched his first of the playoffs and second in 23 career post-season games.

Vince Loschiavo (photo-Andy Devlin)

Despite the Oil Kings again having the run of play and out shooting the Tigers after 40 minutes by a margin of 31-12, a late second period goal would set them up with a 3-2 deficit.

While on the power play, a shot from Nassen got through and after Ryan Jevne‘s follow up failed, Brett Kemp backhanded in the rebound for the go-ahead goal.

Edmonton had out shot the Tigers by a total of 81-39 after five periods of play but were on the verge of going down 2-0 in the series. With the venue changing to Medicine Hat for games three and four, they were in a dire situation.

They needed to find the net behind the 6-foot-7 Sogaard in a hurry.

They did just that, scoring twice in the final 12:35 of game time to salvage a series split.

First, Souch buried a chance and then Benjafield charged up the ice, used Trey Fix-Wolansky as a distraction and wired a shot by Sogaard’s glove with 2:56 left.

“(Parker Gavlas) did a good job moving the puck up quick and I just pulled into the middle and we’ve talked about shooting low blocker and low glove on him and that’s what I did. It went in,” Benjafield said about his goal.

Benjafield is glad his team was able to avoid the big two games to none series hole.

Linus Nassen (photo-Andy Devlin)

“It’s super important. Winning your home games in the playoffs is super important and going down 0-2 would have been pretty scary.”

Edmonton then held onto their lead over the final couple minutes to get the big Game 2 win.

“I think we learned a lot about playoff hockey these last couple of games and I think we understand what we need to do these next couple games on the road,” Lauer said.

Game Notes:

-Medicine Hat was 2-for-3 on the power play and is now 2-for-4 in the series.

-Edmonton was 1-for-2 and is now 1-of-5 in the series.

-The Oil Kings were led in shots by Loschiavo and McDonald’s five each.

-The Tigers had Jevne notch four to lead them.

-Andrew Fyten was 14-of-22 at the faceoff dot, while Loschiavo was 10-for-15 and Scott Atkinson went 4-of-12.

-For the Tigers, Chyzowski was 10-for-23, Hamblin went 10-for-17 and Logan Christensen was 7-of-12.

-“If there’s one team that played us tough in the division this year, it was them (Medicine Hat),” Lauer said. “I think that is because there is a lot of similarities between the tow teams. We both have good goaltending, strong defense and both teams like to skate and play a north game.”

All quotes were obtained thanks to TSN 1260. Big thanks go out to that team.