Cougars Settle For Weekend Split With Oil Kings

By 250 News

The Edmonton Oil Kings found a response to the Cougars 6-3 Friday night win at CN Centre to open the weekend double header.  The Oil Kings scored two short-handed goals and a power of power play goals to defeat the Cougars 7-3 Saturday night.

The Cougars came into the game 4-3-0-0 at home and were 5-1-0-0 in the second game of back-to-back contests.  But Jordan Hickmott scored at 3:52 of the first period, finishing a 2-on-1 short-handed rush by beating Ty Rimmer glove side for a 1-0 Oil Kings lead.  The Oil Kings would get another short-handed goal at 5:50, when TJ Foster drove down the right wing then slid the puck under Rimmer for an early 2-0 lead.  But the Cougars would get that goal right back, just 17 seconds later.  Jesse Forsberg took the rush into the Oil Kings end down the right send then sent a cross crease pass to Nick Buonassisi, who would bury his eighth goal of the season behind Jon Groenheyde.  Greg Fraser also drew an assist.  But Hickmott would score his second of the game on a one-time slap shot from the point that beat Rimmer on the power play for a 3-1 Edmonton lead.  The Oil Kings out-shot the Cougars 17-7 in the opening frame.

The Cougars would get back to within a goal, with Brock Hirsche scoring his third goal of the season, tipping home a point shot from Martin Marincin at 2:36, again on the power play.  Sena Acolatse would draw an assist along with Marincin on the goal.  But the Oil Kings leading scorer would give Edmonton a 4-2 lead at 4:05, banging home the puck from the right side of Rimmer.  However, before the period was over, the Cougars would get back to a one goal deficit, when Greg Fraser snapped home his third of the year from the slot, going glove side on Groenheyde at 14:13.  Cody Carlson and Troy Bourke both drew assists on the goal.  The Cougars out-shot Edmonton 20-15 in the second period.

But the Oil Kings would do to the Cougars what Prince George did the night before; pull away with three goals in the final 20 minutes.  Stephane Legault notched his second goal of the year at 4:22.  The goal was originally waved off, but after video review, the goal stood, and the Oil Kings had a two goal lead again.  Just 42 seconds later, Josh Lazowski scored for a 6-3 Edmonton lead, and Dylan Wruck finished the scoring at 8:47 on the power play for a 7-3 Edmonton win.  The victory snaps the Oil Kings nine game slide.  The Cougars fall to 10-8-1-0 on the season.  The Oil Kings out-shot the Cougars 9-8 in the third and 41-35 in the game.  Prince George was 2-for-8 on the power play and the Oil Kings were 2-for-7.

The Cougars will head back on the road for a pair of divisional games, starting in Kelowna Friday, before hitting Vancouver for the first time Saturday night.  The Cougars return home to meet the Rockets on Friday, November 19, starting at 7:00pm at CN Centre.  Tickets are available by calling Ticketmaster at 250-564-5585.

Email | Print | Facebook | Twitter | Digg | Del.icio.us