LETHBRIDGE - The Lethbridge Hurricanes let a 3-0 lead slip away as they lost 5-4 in a shootout Wednesday night to the Edmonton Oil Kings at the ENMAX Centre.
A great pace to open this game. Both teams played wide-open, end-to-end hockey with only just a couple of whistles in the first 10 to 12 minutes. It was a great start for the Hurricanes as well. They opened the scoring with a power play goal. Max Ross tipped a Daniel Johnston point shot to give the Hurricanes a 1-0 lead. It was Ross' 11th goal of the season. That would be the only offence in the opening 20 minutes. Lethbridge out shot Edmonton 13-6 in the first period.
In the second, the Hurricanes would keep pushing and would get rewarded with another goal on the man advantage. Cam Braes scored his 15th of season on the power play to give the Hurricanes a 2-0 lead just passed the mid-way point of the game. The Canes' would add another before the end of the period when Brody Sutter roofed a shot over Edmonton goalie Jon Groenheyde to give Lethbridge a 3-1 lead. That was Sutter's 3rd goal of the season. That would be it for Groenheyde as he was replaced in the Edmonton goal by Laurent Brossoit. Edmonton would finally get on the scoreboard before the end of the period. Dylan Wruck scored on a power play to cut the Canes' lead to 3-1 after 40 minutes. The Canes' held the edge in shots 29-21 after two periods.
In the third, the Oil Kings would rally to even the score. Austin Fyten coughed up the puck at his own blueline and Kristians Pelss went the other way and fired a shot passed Brandon Anderson the cut the Lethbridge lead to 3-2. The Oil Kings would complete the comeback and erase that 3-0 deficit. Not too long after, Adrian Van de Mosselaer back-handed shot by Anderson to even the score at 3-3 and that set up a very interesting finish at the ENMAX Centre. Late in the period, the Oil Kings scored again to take a 4-3 lead. T.J. Foster scored to give the Oil Kings their first lead of the hockey game. Just a minute later though, Lethbridge would tie the game at 4-4 when Cam Braes scored his second of the night and 16th of season to send the game into extra time.
This was the 13th time this year that the Hurricanes have had to go into either overtime or a shootout to determine the outcome of a game this season. The O.T. solved nothing, but after 5 round of the shootout, Edmonton would come out the winners and take the big extra point that was up for grabs. Lethbridge outshot Edmonton in this game 44-33 overall, despite the loss. The Hurricanes went 2 for 4 on the power play while Edmonton finished the night 1 for 3. No doubt a real tough loss for a Hurricanes team that's been clawing over the passed 6 weeks to find a victory. The Canes' earn a point in the shootout loss. Give Edmonton some credit too. The Oil Kings battled back from a 3-0 deficit to earn a hard-fought two points. They didn't fold the tent in this game and kept chipping away at the Lethbridge lead. No doubt a frustrating loss for the Hurricanes on this night.
AT THE HALF-WAY POINT
Well, for what it's worth let's compare the first half of the WHL season for the Lethbridge Hurricanes this year to the the first 36 games of the season last year. With the shootout loss against Edmonton Wednesday evening, the Hurricanes record sits at 12-16-2-6 through 36 games this season. That gives them 32 points and slots them in a tie for 8th place in the Eastern Conference. Last year at this same time, the Canes' had a record of 10-22-3-1 for 24 points and well out of a playoff spot.
NEXT UP
The Hurricanes will close out 2010 Thursday evening (Dec. 30) with a game against the Rebels in Red Deer. This will be the Canes' first visit to Red Deer this season. In their only other meeting this season back on November 24th in Lethbridge, the Hurricanes held on for a win in a shootout. Game time is 7:00 pm (MST). The pre-game show on CJOC at 6:30. The Hurricanes will be back home on New Year's Day when they host Swift Current Saturday night at the ENMAX Centre at 7 pm.
Thanks,
Pat
This blog post is brought to you by http://www.clearlylethbridge.com/.
The views expressed on this blog are those of the moderator and contributors and are not endorsed by 94.1 CJOC or the Lethbridge Hurricanes.
Tough couple of losses... they are playing the same as they did before Xmas. Seems crazy but just 2 wins since Nov 10th... and 1 out of 4 points this week against the team who passed the Canes in the Central Div Standings.
ReplyDeleteIt's not working out, however the players on the roster are quite decent... do the Canes trade 2-3 of the 19 yr olds and write off the season? Or does Preston remain loyal with his veterans, and allow himself to move upstairs letting Matt and Chris try and turn it around behind the bench?
PS: Preston's the best GM I have seen in Leth since the early 90s. The moves Preston and Robson have made (drafts, trades, free agents) as a WHOLE are tremendous!
I was at the game last night and the first half the of the game they were aggressive in all three zones and then like it seems every time they have a lead they back off, and go into a shell, no pinching by D and giving the opposition lots of space not in your face hockey in all three zones like the first half..I don't know if this is the coaches telling them to back off or players on their own. As soon as they got behind again 4-3 they cranked it up again.... this team has the talent to beat any team if they play aggressive disciplned hockey 60 minutes. They have to play to win for 60 minutes not play not to lose like they did in the last half of the game. Red Deer will be a good test of the teams character tonight. TD
ReplyDeletewow...did the last post just wake up from a coma preston the best gm since the early 90s.. that made me spit out my coffee half way and they are tied for the 8th place not very impressed and draft picks are a crap shoot..you need good coached to help develop them
ReplyDeleteBest effort I have seen this year since the Canes exhibition game where they whipped Red Deer at the Nicholas Sheran Arena. Thanks for the entertainment, lads!
ReplyDeleteCouple of frustration points for me. WHY waste your TIME-OUT when you are leading 1-0 and on a POWERPLAY with momentum with 1:54 left in the first. SIMPLY a BAD COACHING DECISION. Killed all momentum, and the PP that followed stunk to prove this! That timeout would have come in very handy in the third as the Oil Kings were mounting their comeback!!
Klein-the-Narcissist strikes again. He decides the game is too well controlled by the Canes, and instead of calling the hitting from behind obvious penalty on Edmonton (near the Edmonton bench), he gets Jedi-mind-tricked by the ever-whining Edmonton coaching staff into "evening up the penalties" by calling both Machacek and Oslanski to give Edmonton a powerplay on the scrum in the corner only moments after. HUGE (undeserved) momentum shift to Edmonton.
After this point in the game (14:21 in second), both refs simply ignored any infraction made by Edmonton; including an obvious penalty where Fyten was tripped between blue and red lines in the third. This should have been the Canes opportunity to gain some of their momentum back; instead, Edmonton scored again only moments later.
Finally, Anderson made some nice saves to keep the Oil Kings scoreless until 3-0, then be made a loose play to give them an easy goal to assist their come back.
I am still shaking my head when I read previous post that preston is the best Gm since the 90s all that says is we have had lousy Gms. I read this blog about Sutter being relived and all I could think of was Preston is of the same mold..
ReplyDelete(The game passed Sutter by, it’s as simple as that. With the majority of teams going younger and faster with the new rules of the NHL, Sutter was stuck in pre-lockout times.) Preston seems to run the same 2 lines stick with the diehards who don't produce..
hope we have a better 2nd half .. If we don't make the playoffs, Rich will you bring in a new modern coach..
getting tired
The Hurricanes have now lost 7 games in a row by one goal (ok the Dec 18 game was a 5-3 loss to the Hat but the 5th goal was into an empty net). What is apparent is the fact the Hurricanes have been competitive in each of those 7 games and instead of finding a way to win, they are finding a way to lose. Usually a team that sits back with the lead is a sign that they are worried about making mistakes and they end up making them anyhow. That is definately a sign of a club lacking confidence. A 3-4 game winning streak would cure that. I hardly doubt that Preston told them to sit back and let Edmonton come to them. Preston is responsible for coaching the players. But it was not Preston's fault for the Fyten mistake at the Oil King's blue line that led to one goal, or was it Preston's fault for the lack of puck control (rebounds) by Anderson that led to two of the other goals. Certainly we question some of the things that Preston does or does not do. But I do like the deals he has made and we could end up with two first round picks in the first 5-6 depending on where we finish and where Regina finishes. I would bet that Preston does not make a move at the trading deadline. Any move to strengthen the club offensively would be costly and likely a quick fix for the rest of the season and would be no guarentee of the playoffs. And unless there is a deal he can't pass up for one of his players, there will be no selling either. Certainly it is frustrating to see them be so close, yet lose again and again. We all want them to succeed (except those who detest Preston for whatever and any reason) and certainly the players want to win. It really boils down to keeping out of the box, playing for 60 minutes and getting solid goaltending. THEY ARE CAPABLE OF IT!
ReplyDeleteRJS