The Oil Caps set off to the Winnipeg Blue’s territory, in the hopes of getting a big win. But after a solid 60 minutes of play, by both teams, the Blues came out with the win in OT, 2-1.
The 1st period was played strong on both ends of the ice. The score remained 0-0 after the 1st, with shots on goal for the Caps, 5 and 11 for the Blues.
The 2nd period scoring was started when Blues forward Kelton Sutherland found a way to put the puck past Oil Caps netminder Riley Wallace (0:42) assisted by Dylan Cassie and Griffin Chwaliboga. With 18 minutes left in the 2nd Riley Cusack got called for holding, putting the Oil Caps on the power play. It didn’t take long for Ben Dalke (his 3rd of the season) to capitalize on the power play as he found the back of the net, past Blues netminder Jeremy Link (19:18) assisted by Mason Fischer.
Through the 3rd the teams traded blows, (Tristan Cross and Nathan Hillis 5 minute majors for fighting) and shots on net but ultimately send the teams to overtime.
Overtime was end to end action, with the Caps getting a power play in the beginning of the period. Unable to capitalize on the PP, Winnipeg’s Chwaliboga found his way to the front of Riley Wallace and put in a goal mouth rebound, assisted by Braeden Binda and Nathan Adrian finishing things off 2-1 for the Blues.
The Oil Capitals have gone into OT 4 times this year, with 1 loss in overtime and 3 shootout losses. Riley Wallace and Jeremy Link were both solid in net for their respective teams, with Wallace making 28 saves and Link with 32.
Oil Capitals coaching staff added: “It’s becoming repetitive, but we did a lot of good things this game again, and just couldn’t find the back of the net to get the ultimate winner. But with a depleted lineup due to injuries, there was lot of positives from this game. With Kanaski, Belcher, Paddock, and Austin Johnson all battle ling different injuries, our young guys really stepped up and dug deep tonight again.”
Injury Update: Kanaski, Belcher, and Johnson are all day to day with minor injuries. Rookie, Brett Paddock, is week to week with an upper body injury.