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WHL Edmonton Oil Kings

Oil Kings Edged by Rebels

April 2, 2022 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Edmonton Oil Kings News Release


Red Deer, AB - The Edmonton Oil Kings (46-14-2-1) saw a third period lead slip away on Saturday night as they fell by a 4-3 score to the Red Deer Rebels (42-17-2-2) at the Peavey Mart Centrium.

A frenetic first period saw the Oil Kings and Rebels both find the back of the net twice as they hit the first intermission tied at two.

The Oil Kings opened the scoring as Dylan Guenther collected his team-leading 42nd goal of the season on a power play 8:19 into the game. Guenther took a pass from Ethan Peters just inside the Red Deer blue line, walked his way into the right-circle and snapped a shot into the short-side top-shelf over the shoulder of Chase Coward.

Jackson van de Leest knotted the score at one just over a minute later as he fired home a shot from the top of the right-circle in the Edmonton zone after taking a drop pass from Frantisek Formanek.

Jakub Demek restored the Edmonton lead at the 12:05 mark after he and Josh Williams broke into the Rebels zone on a two-on-one rush and with Demek looking to set Williams up for a backdoor tap-in, had his pass instead carom in off a Red Deer defender.

With just over five minutes left in the frame, Rebels captain Jayden Grubbe leveled the score once again as he took a centering pass from Kai Uchacz and outwaited Sebastian Cossa to slip the puck over the goal line and passed the outstretched Edmonton goaltender.

In the second period, the Oil Kings found themselves shorthanded on three separate occasions, however it would be their penalty kill unit that would score the only goal of the period.

With just over three-and-a-half minutes left in the middle stanza, Justin Sourdif skated onto a loose puck in the neutral zone, turned on the afterburners to blow past the lone Rebels defender back and he elevated a shot over the left arm of Coward from between the hashmarks for his 22nd goal of the season and the Oil Kings league-leading 15th shorthanded goal.

The Rebels started the third period down a man but would answer the Oil Kings late shorthanded goal from the period prior with a shorty of their own as Uchacz weaved his way into the Edmonton zone and picked the top corner with a shot from the right-circle.

The Rebels completed the comeback at the 12:24 mark of the period as Arshdeep Bains, the league's leading scorer, took advantage of a turnover in front of the Edmonton net where he zipped a shot past Cossa.

The Oil Kings best chance to equalize came a short time later as Williams busted his way into the Rebels zone to create a partial breakaway for himself but had his shot snared by the glove of Coward.

Cossa finished the night making 19 saves, while Coward made 32 saves in the win for the Rebels. The Oil Kings went 1-for-7 on the power play, the Rebels were 0-for-5.

Next up, the Oil Kings and Rebels hook up again tomorrow afternoon at Rogers Place with puck drop scheduled for 4:00 PM. Following the game, the Oil Kings will announce their team award winners for the 2021-22 season.

NOTES

Josh Williams is now on a three-game point streak (1G, 4A).

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 Sunday, April 3 at 4:00 PM when they welcome the Red Deer Rebels to Rogers Place for a Family Fun Sunday.

Check out the Edmonton Oil Kings Statistics



Western Hockey League Stories from April 2, 2022


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