The Fort McMurray Oil Barons suffered their second straight loss on the road, falling 3-1 to the Grande Prairie Storm Friday night at the Canada Games Arena.
“We played pretty well defensively, offensively we had zero finish,” said Oil Barons head coach and general manager Gord Thibodeau. “I think we gave up five or six scoring chances and we had 16 ourselves. We shot ourselves in the foot. It should've been over after two. You leave a team hanging in and give them the puck with stupid penalties, there you go.”
John Teets opened the scoring for the Barons with a one timer from the blue line with the man advantage at 13:37 of the first period. That would be the only goal of the night for the MOB, who carried the one goal lead into the third period.
Sasha Larocque would be the hero for the home team, scoring a pair of powerplay goals in the final frame. Larocque tied the game for the Storm at 10:54 of the third and gave Grande Prairie the lead at18:28. Danton Ayotte put the puck in the net during the final minute, but the net was off and the goal didn't count. Just seconds later the Storm's Ryan Baskerville would get an empty netter and seal the win for the Storm. 3-1 was the final score, giving the Storm their first win in regulation of 2014.
Thibodeau said his team needs to get their game back on track soon or they won't last long in the playoffs.
“It's like we've got 20 individuals out there,” he said. “We're not playing as a group and subsequently that's what happens. You start losing your way. You don't get it done just because you played two good periods. Right now there's not a lot of desperation in our game, so we've got a couple of weeks to figure it out. If not, we won't be around in the playoffs long.”
The Barons will face the Storm again Saturday night in Grande Prairie. Puck drop for that game is at 7:30 p.m.
