GAME SUMMARY: Oil Kings win Eastern Conference Championship with dominant Game 5 performance
Edmonton, AB – The Edmonton Oil Kings got multi-point efforts from six different players on Friday night as they defeated the Winnipeg Ice 7-1 at Rogers Place in Game 5, winning their fourth Eastern Conference Championship in modern franchise history.
BOX SCORE | HIGHLIGHTS | REACTION | PHOTOS
The Oil Kings wasted no time busting the game open as five minutes into the contest, they had a 3-0 lead after scoring three times in a 55-second span.
For a second straight night, Carter Souch opened the scoring after Jakub Demek won a foot race to a puck below the Winnipeg goal line and, despite falling to his knees, centered the puck perfectly for Souch to fire home.
47 seconds later, Jake Neighbours scored his first of the series after Dylan Guenther got in on the forecheck, stole the puck behind the Winnipeg net, and dished it in front to a wide-open Neighbours who ripped the puck past the glove of Gage Alexander.
Neighbours would not have to wait long for his second of the series as just eight seconds later he was able to muscle a puck across the goal line following a rebound off a Kaiden Guhle blast. The goal was just one second short of tying the WHL record for fastest two goals by an individual player in a playoff game.
Five minutes later, it would be Guhle adding to the Edmonton lead as he capped off a pressure filled shift in the Winnipeg zone when Luke Prokop slipped the puck to him in the right circle and he one-timed it five-hole on Alexander, spelling the end of the night for the Winnipeg netminder.
The ICE had a strong push back in the second half of the opening frame, but Sebastian Cossa stood tall in the blue paint for the Oil Kings stopping all 11 shots he faced.
The Oil Kings kept pouring it on in the second period, outshooting the ICE 15-2 in the middle stanza and tacking on three more goals to take a 7-0 lead to the third period.
Souch scored his second goal of the game at 6:57 after carrying the puck into the right-circle and lasering a over the short-side shoulder of Daniel Hauser.
With just under three minutes left in the second period, Guhle would grab his second of the game as he sauntered onto a puck in the left-circle of the Winnipeg zone and zipped it just inside the far post.
With Edmonton on a power play in the final minute of the period, Jakub Demek was able to deposit a rebound in front of the Winnipeg net to finish off the three-goal second period.
In the third period, the ICE got a late goal from Connor McClennon to break Cossa’s shutout bid, but that was as close as they would get.
Cossa finished the night making 19 saves, while Alexander and Hauser combined for 30 saves in the loss. The Oil Kings went 1-for-4 on the power play, the ICE were 0-for-3.
Next up, the Oil Kings host Game 1 of the WHL Championship Series on Friday, June 3 against either the Kamloops Blazers or Seattle Thunderbirds.
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The Oil Kings next home game is Friday, June 3 when they host Game 1 of the WHL Championship Series..
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