Nice shiner. It matches your 'stache. (photo: screenshot/edmontonoilers.com)
After sweeping their first two series and winning their third 4-1, the Edmonton Oil Kings are now in a position that’s not quite as comfortable as they’d like. After winning the first game against the Portland Winterhawks, they’ve lost back-to-back games (something they haven’t done since November) and are now down 2-1 in the series.
Through the first period, the game remained scoreless. The highlight? Keegan Lowe and Joe Morrow were being less than friendly throughout the opening frame, which eventually ended in a fight halfway through the first. Both landed punches but it was Morrow who ended up getting the edge on Lowe.
Portland dominated the scoreboard during the second period, getting on it just under five minutes in and doing it twice more on the power play at 12:06 and 12:35. Thanks to goals from Sven Barschi, Ty Rattie and Oliver Gabriel, the Winterhawks went from being tied with Edmonton at 0 to having a 3-0 lead.
Twenty seconds into the third period, it was clear that those three goals had been somewhat of a wake-up call when Henrik Samuelsson beat Mac Carruth to get his team on the board. Only minutes later, Portland’s Brendan Leipsic gave his team a three-goal lead. At 7:16, Martin Gernat cut that lead to two, and Keegan Lowe made it a one-goal game just under three minutes later. Besides the fact that Edmonton is now playing from behind in the series for the first time this playoffs, they were also dealt a casualty in Mitch Moroz, who was hit by William Wrenn during a goal celebration. He needed medical attention, but Wrenn wasn’t given a penalty. Nobody wanted to comment on it, though.
Playing from behind is never easy; the Oil Kings were given a prime example of just how tough it is tonight, and hopefully they’ll be able to do a better job of it for the series.
