WHL Edmonton Oil Kings

Oil Kings Drop High Scoring Affair in Calgary

Published on November 6, 2021 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Edmonton Oil Kings News Release


Calgary, AB - The Edmonton Oil Kings (8-3-1-1) nearly erased a late-second period four goal deficit in Calgary on Friday night, but ultimately fell 6-5 to the Hitmen (5-5-0-0).

The first period saw the two teams combine for three goals, all of which came in a span of 2:54 just past the midway point of the opening frame.

At 10:36, Hitmen rookie forward Oliver Tulk pounced on a rebound in front of the Edmonton net to take his team to the 1-0 lead with his first career WHL goal. The Hitmen increased their advantage 1:19 later with Edmonton native Riley Fiddler-Schultz speeding into the Edmonton zone, cutting to the middle and sizzling a wrist-shot between the legs of Sebastian Cossa.

The Oil Kings were able to respond quickly to cut the deficit back to one after former Hitmen Luke Prokop sprung Jakub Demek on a partial breakaway, and despite being hauled down in the left-wing circle, the Oil Kings import rookie was able to muscle the puck underneath the pads of Brayden Peters.

The Hitmen looked to restore their two-goal advantage shortly after the Demek marker, with Fiddler-Schultz getting in behind the Oil Kings defence, but his backhand attempt was thwarted by Cossa. Following up the play, the Hitmen spotted a wide-open Cael Zimmerman in the slot where he got off a heavy one-timer but not quickly enough to fool the big Edmonton goaltender who came up with another tough save to keep his team within a goal after 20 minutes.

The second period saw the Hitmen come out flying, taking advantage of a pair of early Edmonton mistakes. Just 1:21 into the middle stanza, Blake Allan intercepted an errant defensive zone pass, broke in alone and snapped a shot past Cossa to restore the Hitmen lead to two. 24 seconds later the lead became three after the Oil Kings turned over a puck at the Calgary blueline, sending Adam Kydd and Zimmerman in on a shorthanded two-on-one rush and this time Zimmerman made no mistake for his first of the year.

The Oil Kings answered back at 7:08 to pull back to within two after Dylan Guenther roofed a short-side shot on another Edmonton power play, but the Hitmen responded with two goals of their own just over five minutes later. Fiddler-Schultz redirected a point shot for his second of the night at 12:48 of the period and then at 15:56 intercepted a puck in the Oil Kings zone and whipped home a low shot for his hat-trick goal.

Before the period was out, the Oil Kings chewed into the four-goal lead of the Hitmen after Dawson Seitz collected his first career goal on a setup by Jalen Luypen on the back-door.

Seitz's late period marker proved to be a spark for the Oil Kings entering the third as Carson Golder scored his first career goal less than five minutes into final frame which was followed by Prokop adding one against his former team less than three minutes later to bring Edmonton within a goal.

The Oil Kings pressed for an equalizer throughout the period but were unable to beat Peters for a sixth time, having their comeback bid come up a goal short.

Cossa finished the night stopped 19 of 25 shots through two periods of work, while Kolby Hay stopped all eight shots he faced in relief in the third period. The Oil Kings threw a season-high 45 shots on goal, with Peters stopping 40 of them. Edmonton went 1-for-6 on the power play, while the Hitmen were 0-for-5.

Next up, the Oil Kings and Hitmen meet again tomorrow night at Rogers Place with puck drop scheduled for 7:00 P.M.

NOTES:

Carter Souch is now on a six-game point streak (2G, 10A).

Dylan Guenther is now on a six-game point streak (5G, 6A).

Simon Kubicek is now on a three-game point streak (3G, 1A).

Jalen Luypen is now on a three-game point streak (2G, 3A).

Josh Williams is now on a three-game point streak (1G, 3A).

Dawson Seitz, who missed the last 10 games with an upper-body injury, returned to the Oil Kings lineup on Friday night.

Edmonton Oil Kings Season Seats, Flex-Packs, Weekend Passes and Single-Game tickets, for as low as $20 per game, are currently on sale at oilkings.ca.

The Oil Kings next home game is Saturday, November 6 when they welcome the Calgary Hitmen to Rogers Place at 7:00 P.M.

Check out the Edmonton Oil Kings Statistics

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Western Hockey League Stories from November 6, 2021


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