Hitmen 4 – Oil Kings 1
The Calgary Hitmen punched their ticket into the second round of Western Hockey League playoffs thanks to a 4-1 win over the Edmonton Oil Kings last night.
Kris Foucault rallied the Hitmen from a 1-0 deficit with two goals in the second period, while Kyle Bortis and Brandon Kozun added insurance goals 33 seconds apart in the third.
“It felt great to get the game winner and be able to sleep in our own beds tonight,” Foucault said following the victory just before boarding the team bus back to Calgary. “I’m going to be looking to keep putting the puck in the net for the guys and hopefully help them out to get to the Memorial Cup.”
With forward Brett Sonne out of the lineup due to an upper-body injury, Tomas Karpov played on a line with Bortis and Foucault and chipped in with a pair of assists.
“My first goal was just a back-door play, a great heads-up play by Karpov,” Foucault said.
With the victory, the Hitmen completed a four-game sweep of the Oil Kings, who finished 55 points behind Calgary in the regular season standings.
It’s the first-ever playoff appearance for the Oil Kings in their second season in the league. Brent Raedeke scored the lone goal of the game for the Oil Kings, while goalie Torrie Jung continued his fine post-season play with 39 saves.
Calgary netminder Martin Jones, who was recently named the ADT Canadian Hockey League Goalie of the Week, made 19 saves for his fourth straight win.
