Oil Kings Bested in Portland
October 12, 2022 – Western Hockey League (WHL) – Edmonton Oil Kings News Release
Portland, OR – The Edmonton Oil Kings dropped a hard-fought 5-2 final to the Portland Winterhawks on Tuesday night at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
The Oil Kings and Winterhawks combined for a total of five goals in a back-and-forth first period, and when the horn sounded to end the opening 20, it was the Winterhawks ahead 3-2.
The Winterhawks opened the scoring at 7:54 of the first period after Aidan Litke ripped a wrist shot under the crossbar from the top of the left-circle after taking a drop pass from Diego Buttazzoni.
Portland increased their to lead to two less than three minutes later after Josh Zakreski won a race to a loose puck in the Edmonton zone and was able to quickly scoop the puck over the glove-hand of Kolby Hay.
The Oil Kings answered back at the 14:42 mark after Carson Golder was spotted alone in front of the Portland net by Cole Carrier and Golder made no mistake wedging home his first of the season.
The Winterhawks restored their two-goal advantage 2:53 later after Marcus Nguyen converted a centering pass from Buttzzoni.
Before the period was out, Marshall Finnie brought Edmonton back to within a goal after Gavin Hodnett got in on the forecheck, stripped a Winterhawk of the puck behind his net and feathered a perfect cross-crease pass to Finnie who muscled the puck underneath a sliding Dante Giannuzzi for his second goal of the campaign.
In the second period, the Oil Kings ran into penalty trouble finding themselves shorthanded three times, but the PK-unit was able to keep the league’s best power play at bay with three consecutive kills.
The Winterhawks though would grab their third two-goal lead of the game with an even-strength marker from Luca Cagnoni at the 11:23 mark after he pounded a one-timer from the blue line top-shelf through a screen.
In the third period, Luke Schelter was able to increase the Winterhawks lead to three after finding the back of the net on an odd-man rush into the Edmonton zone.
Hay garnered the highlight of the game earlier in period after he made a diving right-arm save on Dawson Pasternak who had seemingly been setup for a back-door tap-in until he was robbed by the second-year Edmonton netminder.
Hay finished the night making 38 saves for the Oil Kings, while Giannuzzi turned away 16 shots for the Winterhawks. The Oil Kings were 0-for-2 on the power play, the Winterhawks were 0-for-5.
Next up, the Oil Kings continue their U.S. Division road trip tomorrow night in Everett when they take on the Silvertips at 8:05 P.M. MT. You can listen to every Oil Kings game live at oilkings.ca/radio.
The Edmonton Oil Kings next home game is Friday, October 21 when they welcome the Prince Albert Raiders to Rogers Place at 7:00 P.M.
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