Brandon Sun - PRINT EDITION
EDMONTON — The Edmonton Oil Kings showed in the first two periods Friday night why they were the Western Hockey League’s top team in the regular season.
The Brandon Wheat Kings showed in the third why they feel they can compete with them.
The Oil Kings dominated the first 40 minutes on their way to a 2-1 victory over the Wheat Kings in Game 1 of the best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal.
Kristians Pelss and Dylan Wruck scored in front of 8,402 fans at Rexall Place as the Oil Kings took a 2-0 lead on their way to their 16th straight win going back to the regular season.
“I think we sat back and kinda waited to see what they were going to do, instead of going out there and trying to play our game,” Wheat Kings head coach Cory Clouston said. “We can’t fall behind 2-0 against that team. We’ve got to come up with a better effort right from the drop of the puck.”
The Wheat Kings, who finished sixth in the Eastern Conference in the regular season, came into the series riding high after a five-game victory over the third-place Calgary Hitmen in the first round of the playoffs.
They’ll have to elevate their game another notch against the Oil Kings, but showed enough spark in the third period to suggest they can do that.
“It’s a long series and I think we know what it takes now after what we did in the third period,” said defenceman Brodie Melnychuk, who scored the Wheat Kings’ goal in the third period. “We’ve just got to play a full game that way, so we’ll be better (in Game 2 tonight).”
Goaltender Corbin Boes certainly did his job for the Wheat Kings, stopping 45 shots.
Oil Kings goalie Laurent Brossoit was not tested as often, with 28 saves, but stopped two point-blank shots by Brenden Walker in the second period and Kevin Sundher on a 3-on-2 in the third.
Edmonton used a defensive-minded trio of Travis Ewanyk, Jordan Peddle and Rhett Rachinski to contain Brandon’s top line of Mark Stone, Mike Ferland and Walker until Clouston did some line-juggling in the third period.
Both teams had close calls early in the game as Wheat Kings defenceman Ayrton Nikkel fired a shot off the crossbar, shortly before the Oil Kings had an apparent goal called back because the whistle had already gone.
Edmonton scored for real midway through the frame as Tyler Maxwell won a draw in the Brandon end and put it on net before Pelss picked up the rebound and buried it, giving the Oil Kings a 1-0 lead and a 20-7 advantage in shots after the first period.
The Oil Kings added to their lead on Wruck’s power-play point shot in the second period.
“We weren’t making plays, we weren’t making crisp passes but that all can come with having a bunch of days off in a row,” said Melnychuk, whose team had a week off between rounds, as did the Oil Kings. “Guys built their confidence throughout the game.”
Brandon played its best hockey in the third, drawing to within a goal as Melnychuk blasted a point shot past Brossoit 8:23 into the period.
The Wheat Kings pushed hard late and even got a power play with 16 seconds to go, after Oil Kings defenceman Keegan Lowe shot the puck over the glass, but were unable to get a shot before Edmonton cleared the zone.
The Wheat Kings came into the game intent on being physical against the Oil Kings and Clouston said they did that in one sense, but can still do more.
“We did a decent job finishing our checks, but we’ve got to do a better job of being first to loose pucks,” Clouston said. “There’s different types of playing physical and one of them obviously is finishing your check. The other is just battling harder for loose pucks.”
ONE-TIMERS:Game 2 tonight will start early (6:30, CKLQ pre-game show) to give Oil Kings fans a chance to watch the NHL’s Edmonton Oilers play the Vancouver Canucks on TV … Brandon D Rene Hunter made his playoff season debut in Game 1 Friday after missing 11 games, including Brandon’s first-round series against Calgary, with an upper-body injury … Brandon scratched D Colton Waltz, D Dylan Kuczek, C/RW Daniel Asham, C Tim McGauley and G Curtis Honey … Edmonton scratched ex-Brandon RW Klarc Wilson along with C Cole Benson, LW Tristan Sieben, D Ryan Dech and D Mason Geertsen.
» rhenders@brandonsun.com
Republished from the Brandon Sun print edition April 7, 2012
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EDMONTON — The Edmonton Oil Kings showed in the first two periods Friday night why they were the Western Hockey League’s top team in the regular season.
The Brandon Wheat Kings showed in the third why they feel they can compete with them.
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EDMONTON — The Edmonton Oil Kings showed in the first two periods Friday night why they were the Western Hockey League’s top team in the regular season.
The Brandon Wheat Kings showed in the third why they feel they can compete with them.
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