Hurricanes Edged 4-3 by Oil Kings in Edmonton
Edmonton, AB – The Lethbridge Hurricanes opened a two-game road trip on Saturday as they dropped a 4-3 decision to the Edmonton Oil Kings at Rogers Place.
Lethbridge made their final regular season visit to Edmonton this season while facing the Oil Kings for the seventh time. It was a great pace early to the game as the team’s traded chances in the first ten minutes which cruised by with only three stoppages. Edmonton opened the scoring at the 16:42 mark when Adam Jecho slipped home his 17th goal of the season on a power play to make it 1-0; Gracyn Sawchyn and Gavin Hodnett earned the assists on the goal. Lethbridge answered less than a minute later to tie the game at 1-1 when Kooper Gizowski scored for the second-straight games ripping home his 10th goal of the year; Gavin Lesiuk picked up the lone assist on the goal. The ‘Canes struck again with 14.9-seconds left in the period when Gizowski hustled down a loose puck and centered to Brayden Yager who wired home his 23rd goal to extend a point-streak to seven-straight games and give Lethbridge a 2-1 lead after one period. Shots favoured Edmonton 10-9 in the first period.
The Oil Kings carried the play in the second period outshooting the Hurricanes 15-5 and scored three times. Edmonton tied the game at the 2:46 mark when Landon Hanson scored his 12th goal to end a 14-game point drought; Jecho was credited with the lone assist on the goal. Just under four-minutes later, the Oil Kings pulled in front when the Lethbridge products combined for the go-ahead goal as Marshall Finnie jammed home a loose puck after Rylen Roersma picked up a helper on the goal to make it 3-2 Edmonton. The Hurricanes had a great chance to pull even when Brayden Edwards was set up in front but couldn’t solve Ethan Simcoe. Late in the frame, the Oil Kings added to their lead making it 4-2 when Roan Woodward ended a nine-game point drought with his 18th goal to give the Oil Kings a two-goal lead after forty minutes of play.
In the third period, the Hurricanes closed the gap to one with an early power play goal when Gizowski scored his second of the game – and 11th of the season – to make it a one-goal game at the 3:24 mark; Yager and Noah Chadwick earned the assists on the goal to make it 4-3 – for Chadwick, it was his team-leading 19th power play assist of the season. The ‘Canes kept pressing and with just over five-minutes remaining in regulation Gizowski narrowly missed tying the game and completing the hat-trick as his ripped a one-time pass for Yager just wide of the goal. Lethbridge pulled the goaltender for the final two-and-a-half minutes but could not solve Simcoe for an equalizer as Edmonton hung on for the one-goal victory.
The Hurricanes were outshot 31-24 in the game by the Oil Kings. Lethbridge and Edmonton both went 1/2 with the power play.
Three stars of the game were:
1) Oil Kings – #43 Adam Jecho (1 goal, 1 assist)
2) ‘Canes – #15 Kooper Gizowski (2 goals, 1 assist)
3) Oil Kings – #23 Landon Hanson (1 goal)
The loss for the Hurricanes ended a two-game winning streak as their record slipped to 34-17-2-1 on the season. It was the second-straight road defeat for the Hurricanes as their road record fell to 11-2-1-0 in their last 14 game away from home and 14-12-1-1 on the season. The ‘Canes are now 3-4-0-0 this season against the Oil Kings and 15-11-1-0 against Central Division opponents.
The Hurricanes will complete their two-game road trip on Monday afternoon when they visit the Medicine Hat Tigers at 2:00pm at Co-op Place. Lethbridge will return to the VisitLethbridge.com Arena on Wednesday when they host the Saskatoon Blades at 7:00pm. Tickets can be purchased by visiting the Yates Memorial Theatre or VisitLethbridge.com Arena Ticket Centre, by calling 403-329-SEAT (7328) or online at www.visitlethbridgearena.ca.
