Edmonton Oil Kings Pick Up Rugged Road Win In Prince Albert

The Edmonton Oil Kings picked the perfect time to win their first ever game at the Art Hauser Centre in Prince Albert. Brenden Dowd scored a pair of first period goals and the Oil Kings played a solid shut down road game to preserve a big 2 points with a 4 - 1 victory. Edmonton has now matched their win total of 22 from last season with 20 games still to go in the regular season.

The Oil Kings got off to a great start and opened the scoring just over 2 minutes into the game. It took them 32 seconds to cash in on the first powerplay of the game. Brent Raedeke came busting down the left wing and let his 'bread and butter' shot rip. The hard snap shot beat Raiders' goalie Garrett Zemlak on the short side. Raedeke's 15th of the season gave the Oil Kings the early edge.

Edmonton extended their lead to 2 just over midway through the first period. The second goal was a gift courtesy of Raiders' defenseman Jordan Rowley. The defenseman tried to reverse the play and threw a puck blindly up the right wing. Craig McCallum was there to intercept and he quickly teed up a perfect pass for Oil Kings' co-captain Brenden Dowd who sniped his team leading 21st goal of the season. It was 2 - 0 and Edmonton was in control.

The Oil Kings didn't let up and came up with one of their best periods of hockey this season. The top line of Craig McCallum, and co-captains Jeff Lee and Brenden Dowd were causing the Raiders fits all night and came up with a terrific shift late in the opening frame. Jeff Lee did some nice work in the corners and tried to skate the puck into the slot through a pair of Raiders' defenders. He lost the handle but McCallum took over with all kinds of time in the slot. His wrist shot was stopped by Zemlak but the rebound was loose for both Lee and eventually Dowd who deposited his second of the game with just 83 seconds to go. Edmonton carried a 3 nothing lead into the first intermission.

Prince Albert grabbed the momentum in the later stages of the second period but Oil Kings' goalie Torrie Jung was up to the task. First he robbed Dustin Cameron on a goal mouth scramble point blank. On the ensuing face-off, Russian Igor Revenko had a chance in the low slot when Edmonton's defense couldn't clear a rebound but Jung made himself big and came up with a huge save off his shoulder. That flurry came with about 6 minutes to go in the period but Prince Albert didn't have an answer for the veteran netminder.

The Raiders finally spoiled Jung's shutout bid in the later stages of the third period on their third powerplay of the game. Ryan Harrison drew a pair of defenders towards him in the slot which created some room for Ryan McDonald. The 21 year old Prince Albert native picked the corner high on the glove side for his 27th of the year to make it 3 - 1.

Prince Albert hit a post with the goalie pulled and threw everything they had at Edmonton in the final 2 minutes but Torrie Jung was terrific the rest of the way. Craig McCallum scored his 13th of the season into the empty net to make the final score 4 - 1.

With the win, the Oil Kings snap out of a mini 2 game slump and their record improves to 22-24-2-4. More importantly, Edmonton moves back into a tie for 8th place in the WHL's Eastern Conference with 50 points. Edmonton's record in Prince Albert is now 1-2-0-1 since returning to the league last season. The Raiders are headed in the opposite direction as they extend their losing streak to 5 games.

The Oil Kings wrap up their extremely busy week with their fourth game in five nights Saturday in Saskatoon against the red hot Blades. The next home game is scheduled for Wednesday when the Brandon Wheat Kings make their second trip to Rexall Place. It's a Weiner Wednesday which means $2 hot dogs all night.