After arguably the club’s most impressive victory of the season on Friday night, the Virden Oil Caps lost in convincing fashion on Sunday by a score of 8-2 to the Blues in Winnipeg.
Joel MacGilivray scored his first of two goals at the 6:08 mark of the first period to give the Blues a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes. Ben Dalke’s 13th of the year at 8:07 followed by Tyler Kirkup’s 22nd of the season at 8:42 gave Virden a brief 2-1 lead in the second period.
The Blues responded with three tallies of their own in the middle frame – Ethan Unruh’s second of the season at 13:20 and Kelton Sutherland’s fourth and fifth goals on the campaign at 14:34 and 14:55 – made it 4-2 for Winnipeg after 40 minutes of play.
The Blues continued to pour it on offensively in the third period, scoring another four goals, including another two tallies from Sutherland, whose four goals and two assists in the contest resulted in him being named the first star on the night. Brady Castellano’s eighth goal of the year made it 5-2 at the 6:12 mark before Sutherland’s sixth and seventh of the year at 14:45 and 16:30 blew the doors wide open. MacGilivray’s eighth goal of the year rounded out the scoring with less than a minute to go.
It was a rough night in net for Riley McVeigh, who stopped 24 of 32 shots between the pipes for Virden, while Jeremy Link turned aside 22 of 24 pucks to earn the win for Winnipeg.
Extra notes:
-The Oil Caps went 0-for-4 on the power play, while the Blues went 0-for-2.
-Tyler Kirkup’s goal tonight places him fifth in the MJHL in goals with 22 in total; he’s also tied for eighth overall in the league in points.
-Joel MacGilivray of the Blues was named the second star on the night, while Brady Castellano was pegged as the third star.
-The Oil Caps now sit with a 24-12-2-0 record, while the Blues improved to 16-16-4-1 on the year.
-Next up for the Oil Caps: a home contest against the Portage Terriers on Tuesday night. Game time for that contest: 7:30 p.m.