The Oil Barons didn’t receive the start to the road trip they were hoping for. Falling to Grande Prairie 4-1, Fort McMurray saw their record drop to 19-10-5-1 on the season. Cade Petersen had the lone goal for the MOB, Brendan Gee stopped 30 shots in the loss, while Ryan Arnold’s 22 game point streak came to an end after lasting for two months.
The Storm opened the scoring early in the first period. After a glass delay, Grande Prairie went to the power-play, where Will Haley unleashed a point shot that found its way through a crowd. Both teams pushed for goals, but the goaltenders stood on their heads, and it remained 1-0 heading into the intermission. Fort McMurray found the equalizer in the second period. While on a power-play of their own, Justin Dumais slipped a pass to Petersen, who wired home his seventh goal of the season. With the assist, Dumais extended his point streak to eight games. Once the game entered the third period, the Storm found another gear. Cole Penner gave Grande Prairie a 2-1 lead, finishing off a 2-on-1 rush. Braeden Veldhuizen smashed home a 5-on-3 power-play goal to make it 3-1 Storm. Then Zachary Wilson had an easy tap in late in the period, to wrap up the scoring.
The battle between these northern rivals continues into the weekend. Saturday will see the two teams collide at the Bonnetts Energy Center, puck drop is at 6pm.
