Hurricanes End First Half with Come-From-Behind Win Over Oil Kings
Lethbridge, AB – The Lethbridge Hurricanes ended the first half of the season on Tuesday with a come-from-behind 3-2 overtime victory over the Edmonton Oil Kings at the VisitLethbridge.com Arena.
The Hurricanes entered on a four-game losing streak after dropping all three games on an East Division road trip. Lethbridge came into play with a 5-4-0-1 record in their previous 10 games on home ice. The Oil Kings had a good start to the game as they kept the Hurricanes on their heels in the opening five minutes outshooting Lethbridge 5-0 in the early going. The ‘Canes settled into the game and came close with a good chance at the midway point but couldn’t open the scoring. Lukas Sawchyn had a chance late in the frame on a partial breakaway, but lost control of the puck before being poke-checked by Leif Oaten to keep the game scoreless. As the period came to a close, the Oil Kings took a penalty hauling down Hudson Kibblewhite at the buzzer when Niko Tsakumis took a hooking penalty as the period ended scoreless after twenty minutes of play. The Oil Kings outshot the Hurricanes 7-5 in the opening period.
Lethbridge opened the middle frame with a power play with Tsakumis in the box. Shortly after the period began, Edmonton took another penalty resulting in a five-on-three man advantage for the Hurricanes. The ‘Canes came close to opening the scoring but failed to solve Oil Kings netminder Ethan Simcoe with the extra man. The Oil Kings broke the scoreless tie at the 4:16 mark as Miroslav Holinka buried his team-leading 16th goal of the season to make it 1-0; Sawchyn earned the lone assist on the goal. Just under nine-minutes later, the Hurricanes tied the game when Easton Daneault scored his fifth goal of the year on a power play at the 13:40 mark beating Simcoe blocker side to make it a 1-1 contest; Will Scott and Luke Cozens earned the assists on the goal. The Hurricanes peppered the Oil Kings in shots 16-9 in the second period.
In the third period, the Oil Kings outshot the Hurricanes 13-2 in the final twenty minutes. Edmonton took their second lead at the 7:56 mark when Sawchyn scored his 13th goal to end an eight-game goal drought off a set faceoff before walking in and ripping a shot to the top shelf to make it 2-1 Oil Kings; Holinka was credited with the lone assist on the go-ahead goal. The ‘Canes struggled to gain any traction in the offensive zone as the period went on, but in the final two minutes Lethbridge found a way to tie the game on a pinball puck to the front of the net as a Fraser Leonard point shot deflected off a defender right onto the stick of Kade Duell who potted his eighth goal of the year to tie the game 2-2 with just 1:35 remaining in regulation; Owen Berge picked up the second assist the game was even after sixty-minutes.
In the extra session, the Hurricanes found an early winner on the opening shift and the only shot of overtime when Matteo Fabrizi redirected home his second goal of the year – and first career overtime winner – just 44-seconds into five-minute period to give Lethbridge a 3-2 victory while improving to 4-0 this season in overtime; Cozens and Berge earned the assists on the game-winning goal.
The Hurricanes were outshot 29-24 in the game by the Oil Kings. Lethbridge went 1/5 on the power play while Edmonton was 0/3 with the extra man.
Three stars of the game were:
1) ‘Canes – #31 Leif Oaten (27-saves)
2) Oil Kings – #95 Lukas Sawchyn (1 goal, 1 assist)
3) ‘Canes – #16 Easton Daneault (1 goal)
The win for the Hurricanes ended a four-game losing streak as their home record lifted to 6-9-0-1 this season. Lethbridge’s record improved to 6-4-0-1 in their last 11 games at home while their record lifted to 8-10-0-0 in their previous 18 games. The ‘Canes overall record sits at 11-22-0-1 through the first half o the season.
Lethbridge will open the second half of the season on Saturday, December 27th when they welcome the Medicine Hat Tigers at 6:00pm at the VisitLethbridge.com Arena. 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.
