October 25th, 2014: Oil Kings 5, Prince George Cougars 1
Fans saw the return of the black third jerseys, and the Oil Kings saw a shaky start but a great finish.
Prince George scored the sole goal in the first period, but the boys woke up in the second. Dysin Mayo evened it early with a beautiful shot from the point on the powerplay. Mitchell Walter (yes, Mitchell Walter) finally notched his first WHL goal, which would ultimately be the game-winner. Walter had played 40 league games with the Oil Kings to date, and his first goal probably prompted more of a celebration from his teammates–we saw him get put in a full choke-hold by Baddock as a celly. Immediately following, a tilt broke out between Blake Orban and Chance Braid–Braid probably gets the decision on that one. With a minor given to PG just after that, Edgars Kulda put Edmonton up by two with another powerplay goal. The third period was a highlight reel for Luke Bertolucci as he scored two goals 27 seconds apart to give the Oil Kings a healthy cushion. They skated away with a 5-1 win, putting their record to 8-3-0-1 as they look to wrap up this homestand tomorrow.
With two powerplay goals, it is clear that Oil Kings are starting to improve in sore areas. They are starting to move the puck more freely on the PP, but fans are still not seeing the #1 ranked powerplay that we saw a couple of seasons ago. With that, their penalty kill is also improving as Edmonton shut PG down, forcing them to go 0-for-6, and have a perfect on the PK in the last two games.
After getting injured in Tuesday night’s game against Lethbridge, Ben Carroll was out of the lineup. This changed the look of the Oil Kings blue line for the whole night as defensive pairings were shuffled in his absence.
With assists on both of Bertolucci’s goals, Cole Benson is still the points leader on the Oil Kings, followed by Kulda, with Brett Pollock behind him. As the Oil Kings head on the American road trip next week, the right guys will have to step up their games as they take on the offensively dominant US Division. Edmonton’s current point tally will most likely not cut it against the likes of Everett and Tri-City, but provided that certain players play to their full potential, the Oil Kings will be fine.
FROM THE FIFTH ROW 