After a tough shootout loss at home last Thursday to the Wolverines, the Oil Caps rebounded in a big way on the road on Saturday night, defeating Wayway 2-1 in overtime.
Forward Jack Einarson, who is off to a solid start in his second year in Oil Caps colours, scored his third goal of the young season just 54 seconds into overtime (assisted by Jayden Wojciechowski), helping the Oil Caps improve to 2-3-0-2 on the season.
“Tonight was a good win for our group,” said Oil Caps head coach and GM Troy Leslie. “A number of guys stepped up and took on additional responsibility when we ran into some injury and penalty trouble. I was proud of how the group showed some composure and got an important win on the road.”
The Oil Caps were able to get on the board first late in the opening period on a power play tally from Hunter Cloutier at 19:43 (assisted by Dylan Halliday and Einarson). After a scoreless middle frame, the Wolverines would respond near the midway mark of the third as Trygve Many Guns fired home his fifth of the year at 8:56 to tie the contest at one apiece. The Oil Caps outshot the Wolverines 27-23 on the night.
“It felt great,” said Oil Caps captain Ben Dalke. “We knew that we could beat them and felt we deserved a better fate at home on Thursday, so to go into their home rink and steal one back from them was big for us.”
Dalton Dosch stopped 22 of 23 shots to pick up the win in net for Virden, while Isaac Labelle turned aside 25 of 27 shots in the loss between the pipes for Wayway.
Next up for the Oil Caps: a road contest in Portage against the Terriers on Friday night. Game time: 7:30 p.m.