Oil Caps desperate for win heading into Game 3

Sixty minutes on the road with hardly any room for error — it’s time to sink or swim.

The Virden Oil Capitals find themselves up against it in the deep end entering tonight’s Game 3 matchup in Niverville as they look to get back on track against the Nighthawks in what is practically a must-win game for them, trailing 2-0 in their Manitoba Junior Hockey League best-of-seven championship tilt.

Forward Calyb Moore opened the scoring two minutes and 59 seconds into the contest, while Merik Boles and Dawson Zeller added tallies in the second frame to lift the Nighthawks to a 3-1 victory over the Oil Caps in Game 2 at Tundra Oil & Gas Place on Sunday night.

Niverville starting netminder Austin Dubinsky turned aside 28 shots in the victory and was unstoppable all game before Liam Goertzen snuck one past him to put Virden on the board with less than five minutes to play in the third and Braxton Burdeny made 25 saves in a losing effort for the hosts.

What’s made the Oil Capitals operate like a well-oiled machine all season-long is playing to their systems, along with strong goaltending and a deep core that can roll out all four lines until their opponents are buried into the ground. But, now it seems they’ve finally gotten a taste of their own medicine, and even they don’t have the prescription.

Niverviile has limited them to just one goal in both games and have done so by neutralizing their opponent’s time and space in all three zones. Virden’s looked overwhelmed and at times, lost in a panic, especially in their own end due to costly turnovers that end up with them fetching pucks out of the back of their net.

It was similar scenes in Game 1, as the Oil Capitals took five different trips to the box in an effort to make up for their turnovers, but instead got gut punched three times after Thomas Philips, Loik Leduc, and Zeller all chalked up goals on the man advantage. Leduc notched his team’s lone even strength goal two minutes 23 seconds into the middle frame, and defenceman Austin Osiowy sniped eight minutes later to cut the Nighthawks lead to 2-1.

Virden also had its chances on the power play but went 0-for-5 on its way to a 4-1 defeat. They have yet to hold a lead in this series, and that just goes to show how in control Niverville has been.

But if there is ever a time to turn things around, it would be now.

After losing just six games in regulation during the regular season, the Nighthawks have lost two games in a row just twice this year, all during the month of February. The first pair of defeats came on Feb. 6 and 7 when they fell to Winkler 7-5 before being shut out 1-0 by their Turnbull Cup foes, while they also lost 4-2 to Steinbach and 5-4 to Neepawa on Feb. 13 and 14.

They are too consistent to drop four consecutive games, so head coach Tyson Ramsey and his squad will need to pick up a win in Game 3 to avoid a 3-0 descent, which would simply be too much to come back from.

Niverville is going to continue pushing the pace at five-on-five with its aggressive play style, but if Virden cleans up its special teams, it can stay in games.

The Oil Capitals have amassed an 0-for-8 mark on the power play thus far and a big reason is because they haven’t actually been able to set up. Ramsey and his crew have gone with Bryant as the entry guy, but they may need to change their game plan if they want to gain more clean entries into the offensive zone so they make something happen.

Bryant, who is still tops in the league in post-season scoring with nine goals and 19 points, has come too close to the Nighthawk’s radar, so he’ll be prioritizing getting lost in the coverage and finding soft ice so he can put his lethal shot to use.

On the other hand, Virden’s penalty kill went a perfect 4-for-4 in Game 2 after giving up the triple in the series opener. Captain Ty Plaisier and London Hoilett will continue headlining that unit as they try to contain Adam Vigfusson, Hayden Wheddon — a former Brandon Wheat King who led the MJHL in points this season with 90 — and Zeller as best they can, while Burdeny will need to play lights out in between the pipes for the rest of the series.

The 20-year-old Winnipeg native has recorded an .872 save percentage through the first two games and is due for a bounce-back effort considering how desperate his club is coming into tonight’s bout. As for Dubinsky, he’s proven to be a math equation the Oil Capitals just can’t seem to solve.

To no surprise, Niverville hasn’t given up a whole lot of chances period, never mind from high-scoring areas, but every time they have their netminder has come up big. He plays a very big and boring style because he’s always in the right position, but Virden could test him more up top considering how many low shots they threw his way in Game 2 with no avail.

And with how difficult it has been to get puck in behind him, the Oil Capitals also don’t want to put themselves in a position where they are chasing the game from the very start, which they have done the past two matches. In Game 1, Philips scored his power-play goal 2:49 into the game, which is 10 seconds fewer than how long it took Moore to get on the board for the Nighthawks in Game 2.

The last thing they are going to want is to allow another early one tonight, especially on the road. They need to take the crowd out of it and as early as possible, or else it just gives their opponent more energy.

Following Game 3 this evening, the Oil Capitals will head back to home ice for Game 4 on Thursday at 7:30 p.m.

» mdelucataronno@brandonsun.com