Hurricanes Romp Oil Kings 6-1 Saturday
Edmonton, AB – The Lethbridge Hurricanes earned their second-straight victory on Saturday with a 6-1 win at Rogers Place over the Edmonton Oil Kings.
It was the final meeting of the season between the Hurricanes and Oil Kings and the first since January 29th when the ‘Canes earned a lopsided 10-2 victory in Edmonton. Lethbridge had a good start to the contest with a pair of chances early but couldn’t solve Logan Cunningham as the game remained scoreless in the early going. The Hurricanes opened the scoring at the 12:47 mark as Tyson Laventure redirected a Tyson Zimmer point shot for his team-leading 22nd goal of the season to make it 1-0. Moments later, while shorthanded, the Hurricanes had a two-on-one and Cole Shepard tipped a shot off the goal post. Lethbridge outshot Edmonton 15-8 in the first period and lead 1-0 after twenty minutes.
The Hurricanes had a great second period outshooting the Oil Kings 17-6. Lethbridge kept Edmonton pinned in their own zone for the bulk of the first five minutes before they doubled their lead when Noah Chadwick ripped home his fifth goal of the season to make it 2-0; Shepard and Anton Astashevich picked up the assists on the goal. Edmonton cut the lead in half as Loick Daigle snapped home his seventh on a three-on-one to make it a 2-1 game, but just five-seconds after the Hurricanes restored their two-goal lead as Miguel Marques intercepted a pass and cut in on a breakaway and made no mistake for his eighth of the season to make it a 3-1 game. Late in the frame, the Hurricanes added a power play goal when Blake Swetlikoff tipped a Joe Arntsen point-shot passed Cunningham to make it 4-1; Zimmer earned the second assist for his second point of the game as the ‘Canes head a three-goal lead after two periods.
In the third period, the Hurricanes added to their lead on a power play as Logan Wormald finished his 22nd goal of the season to make it a 5-1 game; Laventure and Shepard were credited with the assist on the goal as the ‘Canes scored twice on the man advantage. Lethbridge added a late goal to make it a 6-1 final as Nolan Bentham beat Cunningham with a point shot that went off the goaltender’s blocker and in for Bentham’s sixth goal of the season; Tristan Zandee and Brayden Edwards earned the assists on the goal.
Lethbridge outshot Edmonton 40-24 in the contest. The Hurricanes went 2/2 on the power play while going 3/3 on the penalty kill.
Three stars of the game:
1) ‘Canes – #28 Tyson Laventure (1 goal, 1 assist)
2) ‘Canes – #26 Blake Swetlikoff (1 goal)
3) Oil Kings – #24 Loick Daigle (1 goal)
The win for the Hurricanes lifts their road record back to five hundred with a 15-15-2-1 record away from home on the season. Lethbridge improved to 35-24-3-3 on the season with the win as they finish the regular season with a 4-1-0-1 in the six-game season series against the Oil Kings.
The Hurricanes will open a two-game homestand on Wednesday when they welcome the Calgary Hitmen at 7:00pm. Individual game tickets are available by visiting the ENMAX Centre Ticket Centre, the Yates Memorial Theatre Ticket Centre, by calling 403-329-SEAT (7328) or online at www.lethbridgehurricanes.com.
