The Oil Barons took points in back to back games, as the regular season begins to wind down for the blue and gold. A 3-2 overtime loss to Whitecourt saw the MOB losing streak stretch to five games, before they snapped it with a 4-3 win over Drayton Valley. Carter Schmidt led the charge offensively, while Danny Akkouche and Cade Petersen picked up points in back to back games.
Fort McMurray got off to a good start against Whitecourt, despite finding themselves down after one period of play. A couple power-play opportunities saw the MOB outshoot the Wolverines, but markers from Dylan Ruptash and Timothy Kim put the road side up 2-0 after 20 minutes of play. In the late stages of the second, the Oil Barons finally broke the goose egg. After Akkouche lost the handle of a wrap-around, the puck slid to Schmidt, whose wrist shot found its way through a crowd. The goal stood up as Schmidt’s 100th career point, making it 2-1. Early in the third period the Oil Barons equalized. Cade Petersen left the puck in the left face-off circle, and a backhander from Alexis Beaulac slipped through the five hole of Elliott Pratt, tying the game at 2-2. Both teams pressed, but the game headed to overtime. It didn’t take long to find a game winner. After a missed opportunity, Travis Verbeek threw the puck to the front of the net, where Matthew Gallant deflected home the winner, 45 seconds into overtime, giving Whitecourt the two points on the road.
The MOB got off to a hot start on Friday against Drayton Valley. Less than two minutes in, Justin Dumais danced his way past a fallen defender and snapped home his ninth goal of the season. It was the first time in seven games the Oil Barons scored first in a contest. The Thunder responded. After Kohyn Pipke held the blue-line, a long shot by Tucker Tullikopf was deflected past Vincent Filion by Matthias Bessey, knotting the game at 1-1. Fort McMurray took the lead right back. Louis-Charles Cunningham received a pass in the right face-off and zipped home a shot past a screened Hudson Perry for his fifth goal of the year. A little more than a minute later, Drayton Valley answered right back. Filion spilled a rebound off an Anton Yatsyshin shot, and Marco Oliviero steered home the loose puck, bringing the teams into the first intermission tied at 2-2. Fort McMurray kept pressing in the second period. About five minutes in, Carter Schmidt scored a highlight reel marker off a beautiful feed from Trennen Redlick for his team leading 17th goal of the season, giving the MOB a 3-2 lead. The defences tightened and it wasn’t until there was four minutes to go in the period that another goal was scored. Drayton Valley continued to be resilient, as Pipke danced around Reis Nyland before snapping a shot top rebound, tying the game at 3-3. However, Fort McMurray got the go ahead goal with 3.9 seconds remaining in the middle frame. After an initial save from Perry, Drew Freer jammed home the rebound to give the Oil Barons a 4-3 advantage heading into the intermission. Fort McMurray overcame a disallowed goal and killed off two late penalties in the third period, and they snapped their five game losing streak.
The MOB return to action on February 28th for their final home game of the regular season. It will be a north division battle when the Devon Xtreme come to town. Puck drop at Centerfire Place is at 7:30pm.
