WHL Edmonton Oil Kings

Oil Kings Offence Sputters in Victoria

Published on February 9, 2015 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Edmonton Oil Kings News Release


EDMONTON, ALTA. - The Edmonton Oil Kings just could get anything going Monday afternoon in Victoria.

The Oil Kings (25-25-4-2) outshot the Victoria Royals 35-22, but struggled to generate any scoring chances as they fell 2-1 to the Royals.

"I thought we did some positive things today, but that's a big strong team. We certainly weren't overwhelmed, but we had a hard time generating offence," said Oil Kings head coach Steve Hamilton.

Justin Paulic made 34 saves for the Royals, but didn't face a ton of traffic or many chances from in close as the Oil Kings offence struggled.

"I think it's been a consistent theme with us: not establishing an interior presence," Hamilton explained. "We were at times today satisfied with the long shot without any traffic, and so at times weren't generating any extra opportunity for ourselves."

Jack Palmer opened the scoring for Victoria midway through the first period as a blocked shot squirted to him at the side of the goal. Patrick Dea slid across for a great pad save on Palmer's first attempt, but the rebound went right back to him, and he beat Dea for a 1-0 Victoria lead.

Mads Eller evened the score for the Oil Kings with his first goal since Nov. 29 as he banged home a rebound on the power-play. Ben Carroll and Edgars Kulda picked up the assists, with Kulda running his point streak to four games. It was the fourth game in a row the Oil Kings had tallied a power-play goal.

"We do have our most success on the power play when it's quite simple-- when we're willing to shoot and willing to rebound -- and that's exactly how that goal happened for us tonight," Hamilton said. It was a nice play by Ben Carroll to get it on night, and Mads made a nice play in the blue paint. The simplicity of our power play goes hand-in-hand with its success."

Austin Carrroll netted the eventual winner for Victoria with 7:05 left in the second period as he spun in the slot and beat Dea on the glove side to put the Royals up 2-1.

Dea finished with 20 saves in a losing effort.

The Oil Kings will wrap up their four-game road trip Wednesday in Vancouver, with puck drop scheduled for 8 p.m.

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Western Hockey League Stories from February 9, 2015


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