The Virden Oil Capitals fired 45 shots on Winkler net minder, Devon Fordyce, tonight, but it wasn’t enough as they fell 3-1 to the visiting Flyers.
Winkler came out with a purpose right in the first shift as they beat Oil Caps’ starter, Sean Kuehn, to give themselves an early 1-0 lead. The Flyers added to their lead midway through the opening frame when Brett Klassen capitalized for Winkler to put the visitors up 2-0. Ben Williams responded for the Oil Caps late in the period with his 25th of the season. Jordan Greig and Soren Frederiksen each picked up assists, extending Frederiksen’s point streak to 12 games.
With nothing to report in the second period, the Oil Caps came out hard in the third pressing for the equalizer. The Oil Caps called a timeout with 1:18 to play in the period, bringing Kuehn to the bench for the extra attacker. With a mad scramble in front, Corey Haverstick let one fly through a crowd that hit the cross bar and sat behind Fordyce, who smothered the the puck for a whistle. Following the next face-off, the Flyers’ Scott Gall jumped on a loose puck at his own blue line, skated it across the centre ice red line and buried it into the open net.
In total, the Oil Caps fired 45 shots at Fordyce, who picked up with win with 44 saves. Meanwhile, Kuehn turned aside 21 of the 23 shots he faced.
The empty net goal sealed the 3-1 win for the Flyers who snapped the Oil Caps four-game win streak and put a five-point cushion between them and the Oil Caps for fourth place in the standings. It was just the first win of the season for the Flyers over the Oil Caps who avenged their last minute collapse to Virden on Super Bowl Sunday in a 5-4 overtime loss – a loss that saw the Oil Caps score two goals in the final three minutes and then win it in the extra frame.
These two teams will only wait six days to play each other again. The sixth and final game of the season series will go in Winkler on Saturday, February 21st in what could very well be a first round playoff preview. But before that game can happen, the Oil Caps will travel to Portage tomorrow for Family Day to take on the Terriers in a 4:30 matchup. Virden’s week will continue on Friday in Selkirk, before heading to Winkler for that final matchup with the Flyers.
For tonight’s online scoring report, click here.