Despite outshooting their opponent by a wide margin, the Virden Oil Capitals had a difficult time finding the back of the net on Tuesday night as they ended up dropping a 4-3 decision in overtime to the Swan Valley Stampeders at Tundra Oil and Gas Place.
The Oil Capitals ended up firing 51 shots on Stamps netminder Ethan Peterson – including 20 shots in the second period – but it wasn’t meant to be as the Stamps took a 3-2 lead into the dressing room after 40 minutes and would eventually seal the game on a powerplay goal by Lane Kirk in overtime.
“We continually outshoot teams but we talk a lot about second, third and fourth chances in front of the net,” said Oil Caps head coach and GM Troy Leslie. “We got a lot of shots there tonight but on a night like tonight where they’re maybe not going in, you’ve got to get into those spots to find those loose pucks in and around the net. That can be a difference in a game and it was tonight.”
After a scoreless first period, Kyle Salaway’s 14th of the season opened the scoring just seven seconds into the middle frame. Shane Roulette responded for Swan Valley at the 8:52 mark before Dylan Thiessen’s ninth of the year gave Virden a 2-1 lead approximately five minutes later. The Stamps would tie the contest and eventually take the lead late in the period as Noah Basarab and Josh Tripp netted tallies at the 17:10 and 19:05 marks respectively.
The Oil Caps eventually would tie the contest at the 16:12 mark of the third as Tyler Kirkup netted his 16th of the season on the power play.
“I thought we were pretty good in the third period,” Leslie said. “We got one to go in for us and unfortunately we had to kill a penalty in overtime, which is tough to do and they got the result they wanted.”
Dalton Dosch turned aside 24 of 28 shots in net for Virden in the loss.
Next up for the Oil Caps: A road game in Portage on Wednesday night. Game time: 7:30 p.m.