The Oil Caps put forth a solid effort on Saturday night but wound up falling just short, losing 3-2 in a shootout to the Winkler Flyers at Tundra Oil and Gas Place.
Virden came out strong, outshooting the Flyers 10-5 in the opening frame but the club was unable to solve Flyers netminder Riley Morgan, who turned aside 27 shots in total to pick up his third win of the season.
The contest remained scoreless until just after the midway mark of the second period as Kolten Kanaski netted his fifth of the year at the 11:48 mark (assisted by Hunter Cloutier and Brock Shwaluk) providing the Oil Caps with a one-goal advantage they’d carry into the second intermission.
The Flyers would respond early in the third on a tally by Brody Moffatt at 1:07 and would later take the lead on a goal by Griffin Leonard at the 9:23 mark. The Oil Caps made the home fans come out of their seats later in the period as captain Ben Dalke picked up his second goal of the year at 13:37 on the power play (assisted by Cloutier and Jayden Wojciechowski) to tie the contest at two apiece.
After a scoreless overtime, the two teams found themselves in a shootout and it was Josh Kagan and Colton Friesen of the Flyers who found the back of the net, helping Winkler improve to 4-5-1-0 on the season. With the shootout loss, the Oil Caps now sit with a 2-4-0-3 record on the year thus far.
Dalton Dosch was solid between the pipes for Virden, turning aside 32 of 34 shots directed his way between the pipes.
Oil Capitals Coaching staff added: “Was a bit of a sloppy game at times as both teams were coming off of emotional losses the prior night. We battled through and was a whole team effort tonight from top to bottom, everyone was engaged. Dalton was solid between the pipes and helped settle our guys down as well. We will eventually start winning our share of these shootout games, it just takes time with a young group of guys to get more relaxed in the shootout.”
Next up for Virden: The Oil Caps renew acquaintances with the Flyers in Winkler on Tuesday night. Game time for that contest is 7:30 p.m.