WHL Edmonton Oil Kings

Oil Kings momentum comes crashing down with 4-1 loss to Prince George

Published on February 6, 2010 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Edmonton Oil Kings News Release


Prince George, BC- After playing some of their best hockey of the season the past two games, the Edmonton Oil Kings confidence was trending upward. Facing the Prince George Cougars on Friday night, a team that sits last in the Western Hockey League, and entrenched in a 13-game losing streak, the Oil Kings were looking for that trend to sky rocket.

However all that momentum they built up crashed to a halt after losing 4-1 to Prince George.

"It's unacceptable," said Oil Kings head coach Steve Pleau.

"It's why we lose games. It's why we only have 11 wins in 56 games.

"We are an 11-win team and we showed it tonight."

James Dombrowski, Spencer Asuchak, Clarke Breitkreuz, and Tyler Halliday would all score for Prince George, while Michael St. Croix would score the lone tally for Edmonton.

Cam Lanigan was making his third straight start, but the Oil Kings got caught standing around in the first period and they were outshot 21-10.

Before the first period was out, the Oil Kings were down 2-0.

"I am surprised at how we came out," added Pleau.

"I thought we had a lot to build off from our game in Kelowna, there were a lot of positives to draw from in our past couple of games, and we didn't draw from any of it."

Special teams have been a big struggle for the Oil Kings this season. Their penalty kill has given up several goals lately, and the Cougars struck twice on the power play.

They were able to make it 3-0 when Breitkreuz jumped on a re-direction in front of the Oil Kings net and tapped in the loose puck past Lanigan early in the second period.

Entering the game, the Oil Kings power play was also struggling. They were mired in a 0 for 36 slump and they hadn't scored in seven games.

That all ended with St. Croix's 12th goal of the season. The 16-year-old rookie has been on a tear the past three games, scoring his fourth goal and seventh point in that span.

His linemates, Garry Nunn and T.J. Foster added the assists on the goal. It's Nunn's sixth point in his past three games and Foster's fourth.

The Oil Kings got a couple of other good chances on the power play after that, but untimely penalties both at even strength and while on the power play killed any momentum they got from the St. Croix goal.

"We were undisciplined, and it killed us tonight," said Oil Kings assistant coach Rocky Thompson.

"Our penalty- kill and power play has really struggled for us all season long. They were able to score on their first two power play chances, and we need to be better than that against a team like that."

That late second period goal sparked the Oil Kings and they outshot Prince George by an 11-5 count in the third period.

They fired 32 shots at Cougars netminder Hudson Stremmel, but only tallied the one goal.

"We've got to get traffic, we've got to get dirty and that's why we only got the one goal," said Pleau.

The Oil Kings will finish off their three-game B.C. road trip Saturday night in the second half of their back-to-back affair with Prince George.

Edmonton's record now drops to 11-38-4-8 on the season and just 4-20-2-5 on the road.

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Western Hockey League Stories from February 6, 2010


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