A four-goal first period including a hat-trick by Ty Nash led the Edmonton Oil Kings to a monumental 6-4 upset victory over the Prince George Cougars in front of 4,528 fans at CN Centre on Wednesday.
“We weren’t ready to play. When you get down early you cheat the game a little bit, turning the puck over and not getting saves. It’s not a recipe to win.” said Mark Lamb, Cougars head coach and general manager.
Nash began the scoring just 2:10 into the opening period as a blast by Cole Miller bounced off the mask of Cougars netminder Josh Ravensbergen, right to the stick of the overage forward and into the yawning cage.
Five minutes later, Marshall Finnie added to the Oil Kings lead accepting a pass from Matthew Gallant.
Nash ended the opening 20 minutes with a pair of power-play goals set up by fellow overager Skylar Bruce.
Had 60 minutes but did it in 20!@EdmOilKings | #WHLHatTricks pic.twitter.com/hrPeVlORZ1
— The WHL (@TheWHL) December 28, 2023
The son of former NHL enforcer Tyson Nash told MyPGNow.com post-game that their special team’s success was key – also burning off a lengthy 5-on-3 penalty kill early in the contest.
“We had everything going. Even when we were even strength, we were getting pucks to the net getting some greasy ones and that first period was huge.”
On a night where the top trio of Zac Funk, Riley Heidt and Terik Parascak were pretty much held in place – it was the checking line of Matteo Danis, Aiden Foster and Jett Lajoie that stepped up to the forefront.
Danis kick started the Cougars offense with his fourth of the season from Bauer Dumanski trimming the Edmonton lead to 4-1.
After getting hauled down on a partial breakaway, Heidt brought the Cats within two – the 18-year-old prospect of the Minnesota Wild collected a loose puck at the side of the Edmonton goal after a scramble by Carlin Dezainde.
The sequence began with a point blast by defenseman Hudson Thornton.
In the third, what seemed to be an innocent-looking sharp-angle shot by Gavin Hodnott somehow squirted past the arm of Cats netminder Ty Young.
Young came on in relief of Ravensbergen who allowed four goals on 12 shots after the first period.
Facing a three-goal deficit in the face, the Cougars pushed back, and it was the checking line once again who came through.
A point shot by Tyson Buczkowski resulted in a timely deflection from Foster who snuck it past Edmonton goaltender Kolby Hay making it 5-3.
“They did and Edmonton shortened their bench, which was fine, and I thought we started gaining some momentum in the third – that goal gets us behind and then we score a goal and we are chasing. Then we couldn’t really get going after that.”
“They’ve gotten a lot of chances (Foster line) and one went in. For those kids, a guy like Foster hadn’t had his first goal up until tonight and he has played great. To get that goal it is always a big relief to get that first one and I expect more to come,” added Lamb.
Less than two minutes later, Oren Shtrom slashed the deficit to a single goal as he capitalized on a great individual effort from Dezainde.
PG continued to push for the equalizer until the dying minutes, but any chance of a comeback was snuffed out by Czech forward Adam Jecho who lifted the puck into the empty net.
The Cougars outshot the Oil Kings 28-25. PG went 1-for-3 on the power-play while Edmonton was 3-for-4.
Prince George drops to 24-10-0-0 on the season but remains first in the Western Conference, three points ahead of the Wenatchee Wild (21-12-3-0).
Edmonton improved 10-20-0-1, last in the Eastern Conference.
Of the Oil Kings ten wins, almost half of have come against upper-echelon teams such as the Cougars, Portland Winterhawks, Moose Jaw Warriors and Everett Silvertips.
Earlier in the day, both teams were active in the WHL trade market. PG acquired overage defenceman Chase Pauls from the Lethbridge Hurricanes in exchange for a 3rd round pick in the 2024 Prospects Draft.
“I think it’s a great pick up for us. It’s something we are looking for we needed a big player that is good on the defensive side of the puck – he has the right hand shot we are looking for so it’s a pretty good fit,” added Lamb.
“You never know who is going to fall off the tree. There are a couple of guys who are out there through speculation like some of the guys in Wenatchee and the teams that really went for it last year have to re-stock their cupboard. That is what they are doing and there are some very high prices – we will see what they end up being once they are announced.”
Edmonton on the other hand, dealt blueliner Vojech Port and forward Rilen Kovacevic along with a 6th round pick to the Moose Jaw Warriors in exchange for Andrej Tomasec, a 2025 1st Round Pick as well as conditional second and third round picks in 2025 and 2026 respectively.
From there, the Oil Kings sent five draft picks along with two conditional choices to the Seattle Thunderbirds for Gracyn Sawchyn, Lukas Sawchyn and Tracen Ashley.
The Cougars continue their mid-week double header tonight (Thursday) at the CN Centre.
Puck drop is at 7pm.