Hurricanes Double Oil Kings 4-2 on Sunday
Edmonton, AB – The Lethbridge Hurricanes opened 2023 with a 4-2 victory on Sunday afternoon in Edmonton against the Oil Kings at Rogers Place.
The Hurricanes finished the calendar year of 2022 with a 44-31-2-2 record as they looked to open 2023 with a victory. It was a good start for the home side as the Oil Kings outshot the Hurricanes 6-0 in the first five minutes of the period, but Lethbridge pushed back to close the gap in shots. The Hurricanes opened the scoring at the 11:58 mark when Tristan Zandee scored his fifth goal of the season shorthanded to make it 1-0 Lethbridge. In the dying seconds, the ‘Canes added another shorthanded goal as Cole Shepard extended his point-scoring streak to four-straight games with his second shorty of the season to make it 2-0 Lethbridge with 8.7-seconds left in the first period; Jett Jones earned the lone assist on the goal. The Hurricanes outshot the Oil Kings 15-12 in the first period.
Edmonton started the second period with a brief power play but couldn’t solve goaltender Harrison Meneghin – who made his 13th straight start. The Hurricanes kept the Oil Kings hemmed in their own zone in the middle part of the period and added to their lead as Tristen Doyle leaned into a slapshot beating Edmonton’s netminder Logan Cunningham for his second goal in as many games to make it 3-0; Brayden Edwards and Dustin Renas earned the assists on the goal. Edmonton had a lengthy five-on-three power play late in the frame, but Meneghin stood tall robbing former ‘Cane Noah Boyko on a point-blank chance back-door to keep it a 3-0 Lethbridge lead after forty minutes of play. Edmonton outshot Lethbridge 13-7 in the second period.
In the third period, Edmonton got on the board with an early goal by Rhett Melnyk who redirected an Ethan MacKenzie point shot and in for his 10th goal of the season just 2:46 into the period to make it a 3-1 game. The Oil Kings pulled to within one as Gavin Hodnett scored his sixth goal of the year to make it a 3-2 game with 10:48 remaining in the game. Lethbridge had a great look to restore their two-goal lead when Dustin Renas had a look but rang his shot off the post. Tyson Zimmer had a breakaway with about five-minutes left in the game, but Cunningham came up with a big blocker save to keep it a one-goal game. The Oil Kings pulled the goaltender for the extra attacker but couldn’t find an equalizer before the ‘Canes rounded out the scoring with an empty-net goal by Brayden Edwards with three-seconds left to give Lethbridge a 4-2 victory.
The Hurricanes were outshot 33-29 in the contest. Lethbridge went 0/2 on the power play while going 7/7 on the penalty kill.
Three stars of the game were:
1) Oil Kings – #17 Gavin Hodnett (1 goal, 1 assist)
2) Oil Kings – #35 Logan Cunningham (25-saves)
3) Oil Kings – #47 Ethan MacKenzie (2 assists)
The win for the Hurricanes was just their second win in their last five games as they improved to 10-8-0-0 on the road this season. The victory improved the ‘Canes overall record to 21-14-0-1 on the season while improving to 16-6-0-1 in their last 23 games and 2-1-0-0 against Edmonton this year.
The Hurricanes will open a five-game homestand on Wednesday against the Moose Jaw Warriors at the ENMAX Centre. Individual game tickets can be purchased in person at the ENMAX Centre Ticket Centre, the Yates Memorial Theatre Ticket Centre, by calling 403-329-SEAT (7328) and online at www.lethbridgehurricanes.com.
