The Oil Caps came from behind to defeat the Dauphin Kings by a score of 3-2 in a shootout on Friday night at Credit Union Place.
Josh Belcher netted the winner for the Oil Caps in a whopping 13 round shootout, helping the Oil Caps improve to 12-11-1-4 on the season. The shootout win was the Oil Caps first in five attempts this season.
“We’re certainly happy with the two points and to finally win a shootout,” said Tyson Ramsey, Oil Caps assistant coach. “Probably not the way we would draw it up but obviously happy to get the win. We didn’t start the game well which wasn’t unexpected after a week off. I think our compete level got a little better in the second and third and our power play was able to get us a couple goals to stay in the game.”
The Kings would get on the board first on this night as Grady Hobbs scored his seventh of the year at 10:09 of the first period to give Dauphin a 1-0 lead and it would remain that way after 20 minutes. The Oil Caps would respond however just 1:40 into the second as Jack Einarson’s seventh of the year on the power play (assisted by Blake Sidoni) would knot things up at one apiece. The Kings would later break the tie at the 5:59 mark of the middle frame as Cole DeKoninck made it 2-1 for the visiting team.
The score would remain that way until the 13:11 mark of the third as Dylan Halliday would find the back of the net with the man advantage (assisted by Tanner Andrew) to tie it up 2-2. A scoreless overtime would force the shootout and Belcher’s eventual winner.
Dalton Dosch, who was the first star on the night, stopped 32 shots to pick up the win in net for Virden, while Ethan Slobodzian made 17 saves in the loss for Dauphin.
Power play clicking
With the Oil Caps two goals with the man advantage tonight, the club’s power play sits third overall in the league at 22.7 per cent.
Up next for the Oil Caps:Tuesday night in Virden against the Selkirk Steelers. Game time: 7:30 p.m.