GAME SUMMARY: Oil Kings punch their ticket to round two with sweep of the Hurricanes
Photo courtesy: Erica Perreaux/Lethbridge Hurricanes
Lethbridge, AB – The Edmonton Oil Kings polished off a first-round sweep of the Lethbridge Hurricanes on Thursday night with a 6-4 victory at the Enmax Centre.
BOX SCORE | HIGHLIGHTS | PHOTOS
The Hurricanes, playing with their backs against the wall, came out swinging as they opened the scoring just over a minute into the game after Alex Thacker was able to tuck the puck over the Edmonton goal line during a goal mouth scramble.
The Oil Kings answered back just over four minutes later as for a fourth straight game Dylan Guenther found the back of the net. Justin Sourdif dug a puck loose in the Lethbridge zone and found Guenther with a pass at the top of the right-circle that he one-timed just inside the far post to level the score at one.
Four goals in four games for #SpicyDyl. Is that good? 🌶️@EdmOilKings | @ArizonaCoyotes#EDMvsLET | #WHLPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/LeoIed058Y
— The WHL (@TheWHL) April 29, 2022
The Hurricanes restored their lead late in the period as Jett Jones led a rush into the Edmonton zone, stalled along the far wall and found Joe Arntsen with a pass and he ripped the go-ahead goal over the shoulder of Sebastian Cossa to give Lethbridge a 2-1 lead after 20 minutes.
In the second period, the Oil Kings once again evened the score after Carter Souch was able to bat home a rebound off a Logan Dowhaniuk shot on an Edmonton power play just over five minutes into the middle stanza, the goal was his third of the series and second in as many games.
OMG SOUCH A GREAT GOAL! 🤯@EdmOilKings | #EDMvsLET | #WHLPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/y8CMHFfsLz
— The WHL (@TheWHL) April 29, 2022
The Oil Kings took their first lead of the night at the 11:19 mark after Dawson Seitz raced into the Lethbridge zone down the left-wing and whistled a wrist shot between the arm and body of Bryan Thomson for his first career WHL playoff goal.
Dawson has the lead in his Seitz. 👀@EdmOilKings | #EDMvsLET | #WHLPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/9RPD4VYo5D
— The WHL (@TheWHL) April 29, 2022
The Hurricanes didn’t allow the Oil Kings to hold the lead long however, as just 2:01 later, Tyson Laventure snapped a shot on goal from the left-wall that took a tip in front of Cossa and found the top-shelf to send the teams to the second intermission deadlocked 3-3.
In the third period, the Oil Kings restored their lead just under four minutes after Tyler Horstmann fired a shot on goal from the left-circle that went off the stick of Thomson and the backside of his defenceman and across the goal line.
PUCKS 👏 ON 👏 NET 👏 (Part II)@EdmOilKings | #EDMvsLET | #WHLPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/PSFnCfU4O3
— The WHL (@TheWHL) April 29, 2022
The Hurricanes would not go quietly though, as with just under five minutes left in regulation, Justin Hall tied the game at four after he sped into the Edmonton zone, ripped a shot on goal and cashed in on his own rebound.
The tie, however, would be short-lived as Edmonton was given a power play just seconds after the center-ice faceoff following the Lethbridge goal and Josh Williams would pounce on a rebound in front of the Hurricanes net for his first goal of the series and it held up to be the game and series winner.
JOSH WILLIAMS!!! 😱😱@EdmOilKings | #EDMvsLET | #WHLPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/597wPGbgNQ
— The WHL (@TheWHL) April 29, 2022
With 10 seconds left in the game, Jakub Demek finished off the scoring with an empty-net marker.
Cossa made 13 saves in the win, while Thomson made 41 in the losing effort. The Oil Kings went 2-for-4 on the power play, the Hurricanes did not receive a power play opportunity.
Next up, the Oil Kings will host game one of an Eastern Conference Semi-Final series next week against a yet-to-be-determined opponent on a yet-to-be-determined date.
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