Oil Kings Drop Home Opener to Hitmen in Overtime
Edmonton, Alta. – An entertaining game at Rogers Place for the Oil Kings Home Opener did not end in the Oil Kings favour as they dropped a 4-3 overtime decision to the Calgary Hitmen on Sunday afternoon.
Calgary jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period off goals from Brennan Brown just four minutes in and Hunter Aura with about 50 seconds to go in the first. While it looked like the game would stay 2-0 heading into the first intermission, the Oil Kings pushed to the final buzzer as Dylan Dean notched a powerplay goal with 0.8 seconds remaining on the clock to bring things to 2-1 after 20 minutes.
In the second, the Oil Kings would tied the game almost halfway through as Noa Ta’amu, freshly returned from NHL Camp with the Winnipeg Jets, fired a wrister home for his first of the season to make it 2-2.
A tie game headed into the third resulted in a tightly contested frame as both teams had opportunities, seeing the shots 8-7 in the frame. Artem Katsuro caught the Oil Kings on a change almost five minutes into the period to make it 3-2 Calgary. However, the Oil Kings would not go away as Jonas Vanicek fired a puck that went off a Calgary skate and passed Aidan Hesse to make it 3-3 in the frame. Neither team could pull ahead the rest of the period as the game needed overtime.
In the extra frame, Calgary was awarded a powerplay, and Aura’s second of the game was the overtime winner.
Edmonton was outshot 30-23 in the game, while going 1-for-4 on the powerplay and 4-for-5 on the penalty kill was they finish opening weekend with a 1-0-1-0 record.
The Oil Kings visit Calgary on Friday.
