Despite heavily out-shooting their opponent for a second consecutive night, the Oil Caps ended up dropping a 4-3 decision to the Steelers in Selkirk on Sunday night. With the win, the Steelers even the first round best-of-seven playoff series with the Oil Caps 1-1.
The game started out on the right foot for the road team as Ben Dalke picked up his first of two goals on the night at the 9:40 mark of the first period as the Oil Caps rode a 1-0 lead into the first intermission.
The second period consisted of a lot of goal horns – five tallies in total – and three by the home team. Shanan McFadden scored early in the stanza (43 seconds into the period) to tie the score before Dawson Martin made it 2-1 for the Steelers at the 3:44 mark. Dalke’s second goal of the evening at 7:49 made it 2-2 before Carter Barley responded for Selkirk (14:45 mark), picking up his first goal of the playoffs and once again, lifting the home crowd off their seats.
The momentum for Selkirk was short-lived however as Marco Creta found the back of the net less than two minutes later (16:13) making it 3-3 after 40 minutes.
McFadden’s second tally of the night at 2:42 of the third was the lone goal of the final frame. The Oil Caps continued to pepper Steelers netminder Hayden Dola, however they could not find a way to solve the veteran netminder for a fourth time.
Extra Notes:
- It was the second straight two-goal performance for Oil Caps forward Ben Dalke. Dalke netted two tallies in the Oil Caps 4-3 win last night.
- Hard-nosed blueliner Morgan Magwood had an eventful evening with 15 penalty minutes on the night, including a five-minute major for fighting. Magwood was the MJHL’s leader in penalty minutes during the regular season.
- The Oil Caps outshot the Steelers by a wide margin: 55-20.
- Game 3 of this series takes place on Tuesday night in Virden. Game time is 7:30 p.m.