Fort McMurray opened up a three game road trip with a pair of one goal games. The MOB began with a 3-2 win against the Olds Grizzlys, before dropping a 5-4 decision to the Drayton Valley Thunder. Newly returned Ryan Arnold had power-play goals in both games, while Charles-Olivier Villeneuve had three points over the weekend.
At the Olds Sportsplex, both teams were flying out of the gate, but thanks to the heroics of both goaltenders, it remained scoreless after one period of play. Vincent Filion pulled two pucks off his goal line, while Ben Dardis made a soccer-like save to rob Villeneuve on an odd man rush. Fort McMurray opened the scoring early in the second period. Jason Huang found a wide open Cam White in the slot and the Moncton, New Brunswick product snapped home his second goal of the season. Olds tied the contest, despite the Oil Barons dominance in the second period. Forcing a turnover in the offensive zone, Esteban Labelle stepped into the slot and fired a shot past the blocker of Filion. Fort McMurray struck 14 seconds into the third period. A seam pass from Villenueve found Ryan Arnold at the left face-off, and in his Oil Barons return, the forward made it 2-1 with a top corner snipe. The MOB got a little bit of insurance less than five minutes into the period. Villeneuve sprinted out to center ice on a 2-on-1 with Cade Petersen. The veteran found the rookie with a pinpoint pass for Petersen’s second goal of the season, making it 3-1 Fort McMurray. The Grizzlys got one goal back on the power-play, thanks to Jonathan Doucette, but they couldn’t equalize and the Oil Barons were victorious 3-2.
Fort McMurray’s fast pace continued at the Drayton Valley Omniplex. They struck early with Villeneuve carrying the puck into the offensive zone and unleashing a laser beam past affiliated goaltender Archer Cooke to make it 1-0 Oil Barons. The Thunder responded a few minutes later. Ben Winklemann raced down the right and beat Filion low glove side, knotting the game at one. The second period brought chaos and a quick succession of goals. Ryan Arnold got his second power-play goal of the weekend to make it 2-1 Fort McMurray at the 4:21 mark. 47 seconds later Harper Lolacher tied things at 2-2 on a scramble play in the Oil Barons crease. Then 13 seconds after that Dustin Good found a wide open Leo Adams in the slot for the Gander, Newfoundland native’s second goal of the season to make it 3-2 MOB. A power-play goal for Drayton Thunder tied the game, as Zach Bansley sniped a shot past the glove of Filion for his fifth goal of the season. The Oil Barons carried the play in the third period, but the Thunder found the back of the net. Just over halfway through the period, a strange bounce worked its way past Filion. Matthias Bessey was credited with his first goal of the season, giving Drayton Valley their first lead of the game. The Thunder’s leading goal scorer Cooper Brown had an empty net goal to make it 5-3. Fort McMurray made things interesting with a breakaway goal from Danny Akkouche with 19 seconds left. But their game tying effort fell just short as Cooke denied Drew Freer in the dying stages of the game.
The Oil Barons wrap up their road trip on Wednesday with their fifth meeting of the season against the Lloydminster Bobcats. Puck drop at the Centennial Civic Center is at 7pm.
