Oil Kings ride strong goaltending to Game 4 WHL playoff win over Raiders

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The playoffs are the same amount of inspiration and sweat, but if you don’t have a goalkeeper, i.e. the third part of the equation, the first two characteristics usually don’t matter.

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In Game 4 Wednesday, the home team received a save from the first WHL series in Rogers Place, while visitors did not at least early in the game.

Strange stuff, considering the Raiders Red goalkeeper Max Hildebrand stopped 109 of the 115 Oil Kings shots in the first three games, while the Oil Kings went on a second straight outing with their backup tender Ethan Simcoe as Alex Worthington ranked first.

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But in this match, the Oil Kings reached Hildebrand, 20, the busiest WHL goalkeeper in the regular season, scoring two goals in the first five goals and three in the first nine, while Simcoe won another strong game 3-2 in Game 3.

Finally, the seventh seed Oil Kings in the Eastern Conference playoffs cut out the second game 3-2, bringing three games to one, and the fifth game in the fifth game returned to the Raiders, on Friday night when the Raiders shouted Art Hauser Barn.

Lukas Sawchyn was the only goal in the first stage of four shots for the Oil Kings, diving was a pass from Parker Alcos, stuffed Hildebrand in the 11th minute of the game before he fell into the finish line. While being fascinated by Ethan Bibeau, perhaps the 2025 transit draft pick slowly slid to the bench, he didn’t return to the problem of looking like an upper body, perhaps shoulder/arm situation.

In the second, the Oil Kings gained 2 zippers on Hildebrand’s first attempt when Gavin Hodnett hit the goalkeeper’s stabbing gloves in a power play, and the puck fell into the net. Then, along with Lucas’ brothers Gracyn and Hodnett, Czech World Juniors forward Adam Jecho lifted Hodnett’s Hildebrand to shoot. Their night was ninth.

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Hodnett now scored seven points in the first four games, while Gracyn Sawchyn had two assistants giving him six points, while St. Louis Blues third-round draft pick Jecho got his best in the playoffs and performed with an edge.

On the other end of the goalkeeper’s fight, Simcoe won the third game 1 3-1 in Worthington last Friday, losing the third game 2 6-1 the next night in a bad Oil Kings defensive effort until his teammates betrayed his last 10 minutes.

The former BCJHL goalkeeper started the season with Coquitlam Express, and he kept behind closed doors until former Oil Kings forward Riley Kovacevic scored a shorter man in the middle of third place. Alcos then took the puck away in the last three minutes as Niall Crocker ripped Simcoe from the high slot. Even so, Simcoe stopped 30 more on the 17th of Hildebrand.

The game ended after Crocker crossed over to Josh Mori outside the crease, and he fell for a few seconds.

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This is: Graycyn Sawchyn, Florida’s second-round draft pick, made the second all-star team in the Eastern Conference off his 77 points and seven game-winning goals … Lukas Sawchyn had 55 points during the regular season in his first year with Oil Kings … Oil Kings defenceman Ethan MacKenzie, who had the winner late in Game 3, had a very strong skating game and hit the crossbar on a second-period breakaway which would have made it 4-0…Duane Sutter’s son Brody, 33, played for a decade in career and was one of two referees in Game 4… Oil Kings guard Niko Tsakumis was injured in Game 3 on Tuesday and joined on the shelf with injured D Rhys Pederson.

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