The Oil Capitals, coming off an emotional game in Steinbach the night prior, took a 4-1 loss to the hands of the Winnipeg Blues Saturday night at the Ice Plex.
The game started on a positive note as Jack Einarson put the Oil Capitals on the board first, scoring his 14th of the year, with assists going to Cross and Belcher. The Blues stormed back quickly just over two minutes later, as Nathan Adrian potted his 12 of the year, to take the teams to the intermission with a 1-1 tie.
That would be all the scoring for the Oil Capitals, as the Blue scored 4 unanswered goals altogether to take the 4-1 win. Braeden Binda would net his 19th in the 2nd period, followed by Dylan Cassie and Jayson Szun scoring in the 3rd respectively.
Emotions ran high in the 3rd as Jesse Mistelbacher and Winnipeg’s Braeden Binda received fighting and game misconducts. Rookie, Riley Wallace stopped 32 of 36 his way, in only his second regulation loss of the season. Winnipeg’s Jeremy Link, stopped 32 of 33 for the win in a solid effort.
“Was a tough night for our club. At times we fought hard at all ends of the ice, and at times, we felt like we were waiting for our teammates to do the work. The game Friday night took an emotional toll on our execution and work ethic tonight, but we will need to learn from that as that is what playoff hockey is like. All in all, we regroup now for a few days, with some good practices and be ready for our game in Neepawa, Wednesday.” Added, Oil Capitals, coaching staff.