Edmonton, Alb – The Edmonton Oil Kings beat the Kootenay ICE 4-1 in game 5 of their 1st round Playoff series and have won the series 4-1 in WHL action on Friday.
For the 4th time in the series the Oil Kings scored the first goal of the game with Luke Bertolucci giving Edmonton a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes.
In the second period the ICE tied the game on an odd-man rush goal by Jakub Prochazkha and the Oil Kings regained the lead with a backhand shot by Curtis Lazar.
With 15 minutes left in the game Jagger Dirk received a 5 minute major and game misconduct for boarding.
Late in the period Stephane Legault scored on a goal mouth scramble and then got an empty net goal from Curtis Lazar.
The Oil Kings outscored the ICE 25-4 in the series and were a perfect 21-for-21 on the penalty kill.
Edmonton will play Medicine Hat in the second round of the playoffs and Calgary will go against Red Deer.
During the regular season the Oil Kings were 5-1-0-0 (1 win in overtime) vs the Tigers and the Hitmen were 4-0-1-1 (1 win in overtime) vs the Rebels.
The ICE can return 20 of the 22 players who were on their play-off roster for the 2013-14 season.
Graduating players Joey Leach and Brock Montgomery both have plans on playing pro hockey.
In the series the ICE used 9 players 18-years-old and older while the experienced Oil Kings had 16 players in that age group.
ICE scratches – Tanner Muth (7th game), Levi Cable (11th game).
Game Summary
Edmonton wins the series 4-1.
1st Period-
1, Edmonton, Bertolucci 2 (Baddock, Benson), 13:07.
Penalties-Reinhart Ktn (unsportsmanlike cnd.), 3:08; Ewanyk Edm (roughing), 3:08; Lowe Edm (unsportsmanlike cnd.), 3:08; Cheek Edm (roughing), 6:09; McPhee Ktn (delay of game), 18:37; Vetterl Ktn (unsportsmanlike cnd.), 20:00.
2nd Period-
2, Kootenay, Prochazka 1 (Descheneau, Reinhart), 2:51.
3, Edmonton, Lazar 3 (Wruck, Musil), 11:35.
Penalties-Faith Ktn (roughing), 12:23; Cheek Edm (roughing), 12:23; St. Croix Edm (inter. on goaltender), 12:23.
3rd Period-
4, Edmonton, Legault 4 (Reinhart, Samuelsson), 16:52.
5, Edmonton, Lazar 4 (Samuelsson, Ewanyk), 18:12.
Penalties-Dirk Ktn (major-boarding, game misconduct), 5:02; Corbett Edm (hooking), 14:34.
Shots on Goal-Kootenay 5-12-7-24. Edmonton 8-18-10-36.
Power Play Opportunities-Kootenay 0 / 4; Edmonton 0 / 3.
Goalies-Kootenay, Skapski 1-4-0-0 (36 shots-32 saves). Edmonton, Brossoit 4-0-1-0 (24 shots-23 saves).
A-7,910
Referees-Tyler Adair (58), Sean Raphael (28).
Linesmen-Cory Lundquist (128), Darren Spurgeon (61).