Oil Kings turn tables on listless Rebels

Oil Kings 7 Rebels 2
EDMONTON — Turnabout is fair play, at least according to the Edmonton Oil Kings.
One night after being blanked 3-0 by the host Red Deer Rebels Tuesday, the Oil Kings stepped it up big time 24 hours later and thumped their provincial rivals 7-2 before 12,689 fans at Rogers Place in the second half of a WHL home-and-home set.
As good as the Oil Kings were, the Rebels were equally as futile while being outshot 39-19.
“It was a completely different game than last night,” said Rebels GM/head coach Brent Sutter, whose squad carried the play pretty much from start to finish Tuesday.
“We never had anybody that played at the level they played last night, from our goaltender right through to our defence and forwards.
“We had nothing going at all here tonight. We chased the game right from the start.”
The Oil Kings led 2-0 after one period on goals from Anatoli Elizarov, whose point shot beat Rebels netminder Riley Lamb, and Branden Kraft, who was credited with the goal when Red Deer defenceman Carson Sass inadvertently gloved the puck into his own net.
“They scored that first goal, an awful goal, and it seemed like everything spiralled downward after that,” said Sutter.
Colton Kehler made it 3-0 with a point shot 3:49 into the second period and defenceman Will Warm increased Edmonton’s lead just under four minutes later with a shot that deflected off a Red Deer player.
Sutter replaced Lamb with 15-year-old call-up Byron Fancy at that point and the newcomer was beaten by Lane Bauer, who gobbled up a rebound, at 9:28.
Cam Hausinger got the Rebels on the board when he back-handed a rebound past Edmonton goalie Patrick Dea at 11:38 of the middle stanza and Dawson Martin connected on a give-and-go with Josh Mahura roughly two minutes later.
Bauer, however, killed the Red Deer momentum with his second goal of the night at 14:33 and Aaron Irving closed out the scoring for the hosts late in the third period.
“It’s disappointing that in 24 hours your team can have a mindset to go like that. It’s not a good thing,” said Sutter.
Lamb stopped 17 of 21 shots before being replaced by Fancy, who blocked 15 of 18.
“He made some saves . . . we gave him a little (WHL) experience,” Sutter said of Fancy, the club’s first pick in last spring’s bantam draft.
Just notes: The game was nearly three hours in length, due to a slightly late start and the fact the contest produced over 100 minutes in penalties . . . The Rebels acquired 20-year-old forward Austin Glover from the Prince Albert Raiders earlier Wednesday, surrendering forward D-Jay Jerome and a third-round pick in the 2017 bantam draft . . . “He’s a top-six forward, a guy who has some offensive instincts and is smart,” said Sutter of the Clavet, Sask., native, who had 12 goals and 26 points in 35 games with the Raiders this season. “He knows how to play the game and has some decent size (six-foot-two, 185 pounds). He’s had a tough year in Prince Albert but their whole team has. We certainly hope he can come in and help us.” . . . The Rebels return to action Friday versus the visiting Kootenay Ice.