Oil Kings top Canes in weekend series

By Dale Woodard on April 20, 2021.

Edmonton Oil Kings goaltender Sebastian Cossa get his blocker on a shot as Lethbridge Hurricanes forward Jett Jones watches the puck in Western Hockey League play Thursday night at the Enmax Centre. Herald photo by Dale Woodard

LETHBRIDGE HERALDsports@lethbridgeherald.com

The Edmonton Oil Kings have clinched their weekend series over the Lethbridge Hurricanes.

The Oil Kings topped the Hurricanes 5-3 in Western Hockey League play Sunday night at the Enmax Centre, earning five of a possible six points over Lethbridge in the weekend series. That follows a 4-0 win Thursday night at the Enmax Centre and a 6-5 shootout loss to the Canes Saturday night in Edmonton.

On Sunday, the Oil Kings jumped out to a 2-0 lead after the first period and quickly padded their lead to 4-1 early in the second period after the Hurricanes got one back en route to the win.

Hurricanes rookie backup Jared Picklyk saw some action Sunday night, coming on in relief of starter Carl Tetachuk to start the third period, stopping all seven shots he faced.

With the loss, the Hurricanes are now 7-8-2-0, while the Oil Kings remain atop the Central Division at 14-1-0-1. They also sit third in the league behind the Brandon Wheat Kings — featuring Lethbridge’s Ridly Greig and Rylan Roersma — at 15-3-2-0 and the Saskatoon Blades (14-2-2-1).

The Oil Kings were first on the board when Carter Souch walked in from the blue-line, took a feed from Jalen Luypen and sent his third of the season past Tetachuk for a 1-0 lead.

Edmonton added to their lead with 2:35 left in the first on a goal from Josh Williams for a 2-0 lead heading into the first intermission.

The goals came quickly to start the second as Canes captain Dino Kambeitz halved the Oil Kings lead with his fourth of the season 40 seconds in to make it 2-1.

But Edmonton quickly padded their lead as Caleb Reimer took advantage of a Canes defensive zone giveaway from Noah Boyko before Souch added his second of the game for a 4-1 lead by the 2:15 mark of the second.

The Hurricanes cut Edmonton’s lead in half when assistant captain Logan Barlage sent a shot past Oil Kings goaltender Colby Knight to make it 4-2, but the Oil Kings restored their three-goal when Carson Latimer capitalized on a rebound Tetachuk couldn’t get a glove on to make it 5-2.

The Hurricanes pulled back to within two and Boyko scored his fourth goal of the weekend after a hat trick performance Saturday night in Edmonton with his ninth of the season at the 5:21 mark of the third to make it 5-3 Edmonton.

That rounded out the scoring as Picklyk kept the Oil Kings off the scoreboard, including an impressive pad stop on Souch to deny him the hat trick late in the third.

Barlage added an assist for a two-point night, while defenceman Kayden Sadhra-Kang’s assist on Barlage’s goal was the Richmond, B.C. product’s first career WHL point in his fifth game of the season.

Edmonton outshot Lethbridge 32-19.

Both team’s power play were held scoreless with the Hurricanes going 0-for-1 and the Oil Kings 0-for-2.

Tetachuk stopped 20 of 25 shots before Picklyk came on in the third. Knight made 16 saves for the win that improves his record to 2-1-0-0 this season.

Prior to puck drop Sunday, the Hurricanes held a moment of silence in honour of goaltender Bryan Thomson’s father, who passed away Saturday night.

The team received the news shortly after their win over the Oil Kings.

Thomson has returned to his hometown in Moose Jaw.

On Saturday night in Edmonton, Justin Hall and Zack Stringer scored for the Canes in addition to Boyko’s hat trick.

Thomson stopped 34 of 39 shots and turned aside all four Oil Kings he faced in the shootout before Barlage netted the game-winner in the fourth round.

NOTES — Greig, Roersma and the Wheat Kings remained atop the WHL standings with a 5-4 overtime win over the Winnipeg Ice Sunday night in the bubble at the Brandt Centre in Regina.

Greig forced overtime with his ninth of the season with 1:26 left in regulation time.

The first-round pick of the Ottawa Senators also added an assist and now has 27 points in 17 games.

Roersma added an assist and was plus-one in the victory. On the season, the 16-year-old has one goal and two points in 15 games.

Also on the local front, Lethbridge’s Brody Tallman scored his first career WHL goal Saturday night in the Portland Winterhawks 3-1 win over the Seattle Thunderbirds. Tallman’s goal came at 5:59 of the third period and stood up as the insurance marker.

There were some other firsts on the local front around the WHL last weekend.

Coaldale’s Ty Young made his first career start Saturday with the Prince George Cougars in a 7-5 loss to the Kelowna Rockets.

Young, 16, who was selected in the eighth round and 158th overall by the Cougars in the 2019 WHL Bantam Draft, stopped 28 of 34 shots in the loss.

In Prince Albert, Lethbridge’s Michael Horon has four goals and nine points in 18 games with the Raiders, while Vancouver Giants left winger Kadyn Chabot has two assists in 10 games in his first season in Vancouver. Chabot played two games with the Giants last year.

In Red Deer, veteran goaltender and Claresholm product Byron Fancy is 1-7-0-0 with the Rebels this season.

Fellow goaltender Brayden Peters of Taber is 4-4-1-0 with the Calgary Hitmen this season.

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