Hurricanes look to rebound in Game 3

By Lethbridge Herald on April 25, 2022.

By Justin Seward

Lethbridge Herald

The Lethbridge Hurricanes will be looking to get their first win in their opening round series against the Edmonton Oil Kings tonight in Game 3 on home ice.

Lethbridge is down 0-2 in the series after a 4-1 Game 1 loss on Thursday and being shut out 4-0 in Game 2 on Saturday night in Edmonton.

“Well, they always say, it is true, you’re still in an OK position to a lose a game at home,” said Brent Kisio, Hurricanes head coach.

“And we went there will our goal to win one of the games and at some point we’re going to have to win a game in that building. We unfortunately didn’t get it done but now coming back home, we’ve got to defend our home ice. They did a good job of defending theirs. We’ve just got to win one gam e — that’s Game 3 —  (and) get back in the series at 2-1 … The first thing for us is win a game in this series and get back in it.”

Kisio thought the Hurricanes played hard in the first two games and were in both games right until the end.

“You know the score looks a little bit more lopsided than it was with empty net goals and they scored powerplay goals late ,” he said.

“But we were battling hard. We’ve had chances to tie games up and score our goals. (Oil Kings Sebastian) Cossa has been good in net. We’ve got to bear down on our chances, we need timely scoring. As an underdog, to win series you need timely scoring — we haven’t had that yet.”

Kisio agreed that both teams have provided a physical presence in the series.

“It’s two big heavy teams playing hard hockey,” said Kisio.

Hurricanes goalie Bryan Thomson has faced his fair share of pucks in the series, having stopped 83 of 89 shots in two games.

“I like a lot of shots during games,” he said.

“It keeps me in it throughout the whole game. It keeps me dialed in and just recovery at the end of it is huge and just getting my body prepared for the next game as well.”

Thomson has noticed the Oil Kings’ high-end skill on the front end.

“You’ve just got to be aware of when they’re on the ice and shut those lines down and then take advantage of when they’re not on the ice,” he said.

Tyson Laventure has been the only Hurricane to have beaten Cossa to this point in the series.

“I think we have to keep putting pucks on him ,” said Laventure.

“You know, maybe to the glove side a little , maybe in his feet, (he) kick (s)out some rebounds, and hopefully we can get some greasy ones.”

After the Game 2 loss, Kisio said, “I think we played a good first period again just like the previous game.”

“The second period, (we) just got a little bit away from it again. You know Edmonton’s a good team and if you  get away from the way you have to play, Edmonton will take advantage of it. I think Tommy (Brian Thomson) in net for us tonight gave us a great start and we’ve got to find a way to score some goals for him.”

Puck drop is 7 p.m. at the Enmax Centre.

Comments are closed.