The Oil Caps were looking to redeem themselves after Friday’s loss and that’s exactly what transpired on Saturday night at Tundra Oil and Gas Place against the Selkirk Steelers.
After a 7-2 loss to the Portage Terriers the night before, the Oil Caps responded in a big way against the Steelers in front of their home fans, scoring goals in all three periods, starting with a late tally by Tristan Thompson with just four seconds left in the opening frame (19:56) as Virden took a 1-0 lead into the dressing room after 20 minutes.
The Oil Caps came out strong in the second, outshooting the Steelers 17-8 overall in the period, and were able to find the back of the net twice as Kolten Kanaski scored at 8:18 on the power play followed by Blake Sidoni’s 12thof the year, also with the man advantage, less than two minutes later (10:09) to make it 3-0 for Virden after two periods.
After the Steelers cut into the lead at the 10:43 mark of the third (Josiah Vanderhooft), the Oil Caps would re-gain their three-goal advantage just a few minutes later as Kanaski picked up his second of the night and team leading 24thof the year at 14:15 to round out the scoring.
Riley Wallace made 25 saves to pick up his seventh win of the year for the Oil Caps between the pipes, while Levi Mitchell turned aside 22 shots in the loss in net for Selkirk.
“It was a little more indicative of the way we want to play as a group,” said Tyson Ramsey, Oil Caps assistant coach. “I think we sat in the penalty box too much but our PK guys did a really good job and our power play clicked. It was a really good bounce back effort after last night’s loss.”
Next up for the Oil Caps: a Wednesday night clash in Steinbach against the Pistons. Game time: 7:30 p.m.