Oil Kings triumph over Knights
The Edmonton Oil Kings picked up their first victory of the 2014 MasterCard Memorial Cup on Sunday night with a 5-2 win over the host London Knights.
Forwards Edgars Kulda and Luke Bertolucci each scored twice for the WHL champs while Reid Petryk added a single marker for the Oil Kings who improve their record to 1-1.
“I thought Luke Bertolucci, Edgars Kulda, Riley Kieser, and Mads Eller were outstanding, along with our backend and Tristan Jarry,” said Oil Kings Head Coach Derek Laxdal. “And at the end of the day it’s the first win of the tournament for us.”
Petryk gave the Oil Kings a 1-0 lead at 9:42 of the first period by finishing off a one-timer to the high glove side on Knights’ goaltender and Philadelphia Flyers prospect Anthony Stolarz.
After being shutout in their first game against the Val-d’Or Foreurs, the Knights’ goal scoring troubles continued in the first period when forward Ryan Rupert was denied by Jarry on a penalty shot to preserve the Oil Kings’ 1-0 lead after 20 minutes.
The Knights finally got on the board late in the second period. Trailing 2-0, defenceman Alex Basso blasted a shot that hit Jarry but the Pittsburgh Penguins prospect couldn’t corral the puck as the host side cut the deficit to 2-1.
Momentum shifted back in the Oil Kings’ favour less than two minutes later when Kulda helped regain the two-goal lead with his second of the night capitalizing off a goal mouth scramble which held as the game-winner at the 18:04 mark of the second period.
“I know Sammy (Henrik Samuelsson) was right in the middle,” said Kulda on his pass that banked into the net off of Stolarz. “Of course you try to get it out as fast and as hard as you can so if something can bounce back or end up on Sammy’s stick for a quick shot.”
Jake Patterson took over in the Knights’ crease to start the third period but the Oil Kings’ offense continued to press resulting in another two goals both courtesy of Bertolucci including one with the man advantage ending the Oil Kings power play drought at 12 while the MasterCard Memorial Cup.
Mermis would add a goal in the third for the Knights who have managed just a pair of goals after producing an average of 4.6 per game throughout the regular season.
“We’ve scored two goals in the past two games,” said Knights forward and Montreal Canadiens prospect Michael McCarron. ‘That’s not good enough for us, we have so much power up front we should be scoring four or five goals in a game.”
The Knights drop to 0-2 and face a must-win game on Wednesday night with a shot at redemption against the Guelph Storm who eliminated them in the second round of the OHL playoffs last month.
The 2014 MasterCard Memorial Cup continues on Monday as the Storm faceoff against the QMJHL champion Val-d’Or Foreurs at 7:00pm EDT on Sportsnet.
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