When you look at a team like the Edmonton Oil Kings and how they put together their division crown, you might think that the team is heavily reliant on one guy. Trey Fix-Wolansky was the straw that stirred the drink for the Oil Kings in the regular season.
There is another story brewing though in the second round of the WHL playoffs. Everyone is pitching in and doing their part to ensure that the team continues to win, as the team has now hit the win column in five straight.
The scoring came from different characters all night long and goalie Dylan Myskiw made 26 saves on 27 shots, leading the Oil Kings to a 4-1 win on home ice.
“Since our first game we needed a little bit of a bounce back. We didn’t get started for a little bit but now that we found our rhythm our team has been playing amazing in front of me, so they are doing a great job,” Myskiw told OilKings.ca
The first period was all Oil Kings as they poured 18 shots on Jack McNaughton. The rookie Hitmen netminder stopped all but one of those shots, it came just before the midway point of the period.
After a chance in their own end, a long feed up ice from Conner McDonald hit Quinn Benjafield. He then gave it to Vince Loschiavo and they were in the Hitmen end on a two-on-one. Loschiavo passed it back to Benjafield and he roofed it over the downed McNaughton.
Myskiw made saves on all seven shots he faced in the first.
It took all of three minutes and five seconds for Liam Keeler to add to the Oil Kings lead in the second period. His hacking faceoff win to the right of McNaughton basically went straight into the net. It was his second of the playoffs and the eventual game winning goal.
The Hitmen played the Oil Kings much tougher for the rest of the period. It included a goal on the power play that took all of 14 seconds with the man-advantage to put behind Myskiw.
The Hitmen passed the puck around the Oil Kings end with efficiency. Carson Focht found him self open at the top of the circle and he one-timed an Egor Zamula pass beyond Myskiw. The Hitmen drew to within a goal.
That is as close as they would come though as the Oil Kings went back to pouring it on.
With less than two minutes to play in the second period, the Oil Kings forecheck created chances in the Hitmen end. Trey Fix-Wolansky picked up the puck and dished it to the point. Wyatt McLeod quickly fired the puck to Matthew Robertson and his one-timed shot from the point was redirected in front of the net and in behind McNaughton to give the Oil Kings back their two-goal lead.
The third period was pretty uneventful as the Oil Kings continued to hold onto their lead. With a late power play the Oil Kings sealed the game while taking a two games to none lead in their second round series with the Hitmen.
Only seconds remained in the hooking penalty to James Malm when David Kope scored his first playoff goal. Jake Neighbours got the puck to the front of the net and created a rebound off of his attempt. Kope was there to snatch the loose puck and lift it over the fallen McNaughton.
There was some frustration boiling over for the Hitmen at the end of the game as Jackson van de Leest was given a four-minute double minor for cross checking and Focht was given a 10-minute misconduct with a little over three minutes to play.
Cruisin the QE2… The Oil Kings swept the three stars on the night, Myskiw, Robertson and Kope were given the honors. McNaughton made 35 saves in the loss. Calgary was 1-for-2 with the man-advantage while Edmonton was 1-for-7. Carson Focht and Trey Fix-Wolansky each had 6 shots on net. Liam Keeler was 9-for-12 in the faceoff dot while Mark Kastelic was 19-of-26. Edmonton has out shot Calgary 73-49 in the series.
The series now shifts to Calgary for Game 3 on Tuesday and Game 4 Wednesday night.
