Four unanswered goals in the third period resulted in a tough 5-3 loss for the Oil Caps in Winkler on Tuesday night.
The Oil Caps opened the scoring at the 12:19 mark of the first as Hunter Cloutier netted his fourth of the season (assisted by Jayden Wojciechowski and Jack Einarson) on the power play. Former Oil Cap Jesse Korytko responded for the Flyers a short time later (13:58) to tie the score before Virden regained their one-goal advantage on Parker Brakebill’s first MJHL goal at the 17:27 mark.
The Oil Caps added to their lead in the middle frame on a tally from Brayden Pawluk, which was his first of the season (assisted by McCullough Park and Tristen Cross). The goal at 6:14 was the club’s second tally with the man advantage on the night.
The third period however was all Flyers as Colton Friesen got things started with his first of the year at 8:14 followed by Brody Moffatt’s fifth of the season at 13:59, tying the game at 3-3. Friesen’s second of the night a few minutes later (16:25) gave the Flyers a lead they wouldn’t relinquish. Drake Burgin’s second of the season at 19:26 (PP) rounded out the scoring.
Riley Morgan stopped 19 of 22 shots in net for Winkler as they improved to 5-5-1-0, while Oil Caps netminder made 30 saves in the loss for Virden, who dropped to 2-5-0-3 this season.
“As a young team we are still finding our way and how to close out games.” Stated the Oil Capitals Coaching staff. “We will continue to build and learn from these situations where we have given up leads in the third period. Important from any loss to learn from it but to also turn the page and get ready for Thursday in Winnipeg.”
“Disappointing loss but we can’t dwell on it,” said Oil Caps captain Ben Dalke. “We need to refocus and get ready for another road game.”
Next up for the Oil Caps: Virden travels to Winnipeg to battle the Blues on Thursday night. Game time: 7 p.m.
Power play clicking
Despite the defeat, there were positives to take out of this one. With another two tallies with the man advantage, the Oil Caps power play is clicking quite nicely at 23.4 per cent through 10 games thus far this season, which has them sitting third overall in the league.