WHL Edmonton Oil Kings

Oil Kings Come Out Cold Against The Ice

Published on February 11, 2009 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Edmonton Oil Kings News Release


Cranbrook, BC - Hit and miss. Hot and cold. Clicking and shooting blanks. Lately those have been ways to describe the Edmonton Oil Kings power play. With a golden chance to push themselves back onto the good side of the playoff ledger, the Edmonton Oil Kings came up empty losing to the Kootenay Ice 3-0 Wednesday night at the Cranbrook Rec Plex.

Kevin King, Max Reinhart, and Dominic Pacovsky supplied the scoring, and goaltender Todd Matthews made 25 saves for his first career shutout as the Oil Kings missed a chance to jump back into the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

"It's frustrating. We have an opportunity to win a hockey game and our power play couldn't connect," said Oil Kings head coach Steve Pleau. "Five- on-five we were real good. Our penalty killing was excellent, we just didn't capitalize on our chances on the power play."

Cam Lanigan (5-6) was making his second straight start for the injured Torrie Jung. The 16-year-old rookie made 21 saves in the loss. He played well, but was on the wrong end of two gratuitous bounces and they led to Kootenay goals.

Down 1-0 late in the first period, the Ice were swarming the Oil Kings net looking for an insurance marker. A clearing attempt to relieve the pressure by Oil Kings defenceman Brandon Lockerby took a funny bounce off the glass and landed right in the slot and on the stick of Reinhart and his snap shot squeaked through the arm of Lanigan.

Pacovsky's fifth goal of the season with 1:18 remaining in the second period was most likely his flukiest goal of his WHL career. Pacovsky flipped the puck in from centre ice, it took about three hops and handcuffed Lanigan to give Kootenay a 3-0 lead.

"Lucky bounces. That's all they were," said Pleau. "I thought (Cam) Lanigan saw the puck well, the guys in front of him supported him in the defensive zone. But you've got to be able to score if you want to win a hockey game. We simply have to start scoring on some of those power play opportunities."

Edmonton had the only two man advantages in the first period, but for the second straight game, the Oil Kings gave up a short-handed marker as Ice defenceman Eric Frere picked off an attempted stretch pass. The puck quickly found its way to King, who broke down the wing and blasted his 16th goal of the season past Lanigan just 4:42 into the game for the early 1-0 lead.

The Oil Kings had four straight power plays in the second period, including a two-man advantage for 1:26, but Matthews stoned Oil Kings forward Brent Raedeke once with his glove, a second time with his blocker, and Raedeke hit the cross-bar to round out the tri-fecta of the Oil Kings best chances.

"We just didn't bare down enough, and you can't afford to do that this time a year when you're in the thick of the playoff race," said Pleau. "We played most of the game in their end on the fore-check. We outshot them in their barn. We controlled the play in almost every area of the game, we just couldn't score."

With the loss, the Oil Kings will move out of a playoff spot and into ninth place in the Eastern Conference with a 24-30-2-4. The Prince Albert Raiders jumped into the final playoff spot in the very tight Eastern Confernce after they erased a three-goal deficit to beat the Medicine Hat Tigers 6-5 in overtime Thursday night.

The Oil Kings will continue their seven-game road trip with two games this weekend when they travel to Spokane and Tri-City.

They won't return home until Feb. 25 when they battle with one of their Central division rivals, the Red Deer Rebels.

Check out the Edmonton Oil Kings Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



Western Hockey League Stories from February 11, 2009


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central