Hurricanes Drop Third Straight, Fall in Thanksgiving Matinee to Oil Kings
Edmonton, AB – The Lethbridge Hurricanes suffered their third-straight loss on Monday afternoon with a 6-2 loss to the Edmonton Oil Kings at Rogers Place.
It was the Hurricanes first matinee game of the season as they made their first of four visits to Rogers Place. Lethbridge had a good first period as they generated scoring chances and had a good look early in the game when Shane Smith was stopped by Ethan Simcoe. Edmonton opened the scoring at the 8:13 mark on a goal by Lukas Sawchyn who ripped home his second goal of the season to make it 1-0; Blake Fiddler and Andrew O’Niell earned the assists on the goal. The Oil Kings doubled their lead just over two-and-a-half minutes later when Miroslav Holinka scored his sixth goal in six games on a two-on-one beating Leif Oaten over the glove to give Edmonton a 2-0 advantage. The Hurricanes cut the lead back to one at the 14:08 mark when Smith beat out an icing call before ripping home his fifth goal of the season to make it a 2-1 game; Matteo Fabrizi was credited with the first assist while Mykolas Skadauskas earned his first ever WHL point with a helper on the goal. Before the period was over, Edmonton restored their two-goal lead when Sawchyn wired home a one-timer for his second of the period to give the Oil Kings a 3-1 lead after one period of play. Shots favoured the Oil Kings 12-11 in the first period.
It was a back-and-forth second period which saw Edmonton outshot Lethbridge 13-6 in the middle frame. The Oil Kings had a trio of power play opportunities in the frame and came close to adding to their lead. Edmonton appeared to score on the man advantage when Holinka batted a rebound past Oaten, but the goal was immediately waived off by the on-ice official and the call on the ice was upheld after video review. Holinka made good to score his second goal of the period – and seventh of the season – at the 17:29 mark when he ripped home a shot on another two-on-one to give the Oil Kings a 4-1 lead through two periods.
The Hurricanes opened the third period with over a minute worth of five-on-three power play time, and Lethbridge made good with the two-man advantage when Smith beat Simcoe with a low shot from the right circle for his second goal of the game making it a 4-2 contest just 58-seconds into the period; Logan Wormald and Nathan Maloney picked up the assists on the goal. Just under six minutes later, the Oil Kings made it a three-goal lead again when Joe Iginla one-timed home his fourth goal of the season to make it 5-2 contest. Edmonton rounded out the scoring with a power play goal by Poul Andersen with 2:52 remaining to make it a 6-2 final; Holinka earned his fifth point of the game while Max Curran added the other assist on the tally.
The Hurricanes were outshot 11-10 in the third period and 36-27 in the game by the Oil Kings. Lethbridge and Edmonton both went 1/5 with the power play in the game.
Three stars of the game were:
1) Oil Kings – #92 Miroslav Holinka (2 goal, 3 assists)
2) Oil Kings – #95 Lukas Sawchyn (2 goals)
3) ‘Canes – #10 Shane Smith (2 goals)
The loss for the Hurricanes was their third straight defeat as it dropped their road record to 2-3-0-0 this season. Lethbridge’s overall record fell to 2-8-0-0 on the season through their first ten games. The ‘Canes record fell to 0-1-0-0 against the Oil Kings while slipping to 2-6-0-0 against Central Division opponents.
The Hurricanes return to the VisitLethbridge.com Arena on Wednesday when they welcome the Spokane Chiefs for the lone time this season at 7:00pm. Tickets for the game can be purchased by visiting the VisitLethbridge.com Arena Ticket Centre, by calling 403-329-SEAT (7328) or online at www.visitlethbridgearena.ca.
