Oil Kings Update: Big weekend has first place in Central almost locked up
4 years ago
With 16 games to go in the season, the Edmonton Oil Kings officially clinched a playoff spot. Isn’t that quite a statement? The team has been a force through the regular season, continually going on extended winning streaks, and for the second straight season, they’ll enter the playoffs as one of the top seeds in the East.
Of course, the fact they’ve clinched this early doesn’t mean there’s nothing left to play for. This team is still looking to lock down the top spot in the Central Division for a second straight season and this weekend presented a couple of chances to build up a nice cushion as they hosted both the Medicine Hat Tigers and Lethbridge Hurricanes, the two teams directly behind them in the standings.
Before they got to the two crucial divisional games, they had to face the Regina Pats, a team that has really struggled at points this season. On paper, it was a matchup that the Oil Kings should have dominated, but that was not the case.
Despite scoring first, the Oil Kings would eventually lose the game 5-3 and even though they put up close to 40 shots, their effort was not where it needed to be on Friday night.
“They played a lot harder than we did and we didn’t fight through some of the battles that we needed to,” said Head Coach Brad Lauer after the game, “you’re not going to give yourself a chance to win.”
It was far from a good start to what was a very important weekend. The good news for the Oil Kings was that the game against Regina was the least important of the weekend and they were going to get a chance to bounce back the next night against Medicine Hat.
They got the bounceback that they needed in an important divisional game. Right from the start, they were the better team against the Tigers. While they did give up the first goal, they tied the game up just 22 seconds afterwards and just two minutes after that, they had grabbed a 2-1 lead. It was a part of a run that saw them score four unanswered goals with four different scorers finding the back of the net.
Dylan Guenther really stood out in this one. He ended up with three points and was named the first star of the game.
“He’s unbelievable. He’s going to have a great career,” said veteran forward Ethan McIndoe after the game.
Guenther was not done there. On Monday afternoon, with the Lethbridge Hurricanes in town, the Oil Kings rookie made a beautiful play, racing up the ice and shielding Sabres prospect Dylan Cozens off the puck before setting up Wyatt McLeod for his first of the season. The fact he managed to hold off a player that’s almost three years older than him and was a top ten pick in the NHL draft before making a great pass speaks to just how talented Guenther is and is a prime example of why many expect him to also be a top ten pick in the 2021 NHL Draft
Edmonton would go on to beat the Hurricanes 5-3 thanks in large part to Josh Williams who snapped out of his goal-scoring slump with a hat-trick on Monday.
“Once you get one, things get going,” said Williams “a big part of my game is producing offence and anything I can do to help the team win is good.”
The four points that the team picked up over two teams that were directly behind them in the standings will go a long way in them securing the top spot in the division. They’re now eight points ahead of second-place Lethbridge with 13 games to go.
They have a tough road trip ahead, with stops in Winnipeg, Brandon, and Regina but if they can grab four or five points, they’ll be heading home with top spot in the Central all but locked up. Then, it’ll really be time to start looking at which first-round opponent would be the best matchup for the Oil Kings.
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