The Oil Barons evened their North Division semi-final series with a narrow 3-2 victory at JDA Place. Trennen Redlick, Shawn Eliav and Carter Schmidt got the tallies for Fort McMurray, while Vincent Filion turned aside 28 shots in the win.
The MOB opened the scoring. A turnover ended up on the stick of Redlick, and the rookie from St Albert stepped into the slot, firing a shot past Zac Onyskiw to give the Oil Barons a lead in game two. However, Whitecourt responded 1:38 later. A Spencer Claerhout point shot hit several legs in front and bounced right to Dylan Ruptash, who dispatched the puck beyond a down and out Filion, tying the game at 1-1. Early in the second period, Fort McMurray restored their lead. While on the power-play, Justin Dumais set up Eliav for a one-timer and the Oil Barons were in front 2-1. With the assist, Dumais extended his point streak to nine games between the regular season and the playoffs. Whitecourt found another equalizer. With the power-play and on a delayed penalty, the puck slid to Ruptash once again, and the University of Alberta commit slapped home his second goal of the game, knotting it at 2-2. Both goalies were terrific in the third period and it took a fortunate bounce to decide the outcome. On an Oil Barons dump in, the puck hit a stanchion and bounced in front of Whitecourt’s net. There Schmidt poked home the loose puck, putting Fort McMurray back out in front 3-2. That goal stood up as the game winner, with Filion making two tremendous stops late, ensuring the MOB would tie the series at one game apiece.
The North Division Semi-Final series shifts to Fort McMurray for games 3 and 4. Game 3 is on Tuesday night at Centerfire Place. Puck drop is 7:30pm.
