Michael St. Croix’s 4 points helped the Oil Kings double up on the Victoria Royals 6-3 Wednesday in Edmonton.
The Royals held leads of 1-0 and 2-1, but the line of St. Croix, Tyler Maxwell and Dylan Wruck combined for 8 points, and Edmonton’s power play went 2 for 2 – extending the Oil Kings win streak to 10 games.
Royals Assistant Coach Enio Sacilotto post game thoughts:
Off to a strong start with Jamie Crooks opening the scoring from a great feed from Kevin Sundher at 4:22. The Royals did not allow a shot against until 6:30 in. Dylan Wruck tied it on the power play, his first of two on the night. Victoria regained the lead just a minute and twelve seconds later on Austin Carroll’s great shot over the glove of Laurent Brossoit.
Rookie defenseman Martin Gernat, who is now off to play for Slovakia at the World Juniors, tied it up at 2 on a shot from the point. Wruck would add another late, with a minute thirty nine left in the period for the Oil Kings first lead of the game.
Edmonton scored their second power play goal of the night on the their second chance, to kick off the second. Steven Hodges replied, opting to shoot on a 2 on 1 bringing the Royals to within 1. The turning point came with 15 seconds left in the period as St. Croix redirected a pass through the legs of Keith Hamiton to regain the 2 goal lead heading into the third, now 5-3.
Victoria pressed hard in the third, earning 3 power plays and outshoting Edmonton 15 to 11, but were unable to muster any more offense. Tyler Maxwell scored the lone goal in the period. Edmonton 6, Victoria 3 final.
The Oil Kings take both games in the season series, and now have won their 14th straight on home ice, sitting first in the Eastern Conference with 47 points. With a Kelowna victory tonight, the Rockets leap frog over the Royals into 3rd in the division.
Brossoit earned his 19th win of the season with 26 stops, while Hamilton made 24. Victoria goes 0 for 4 on the power play, while Edmonton struck twice on their only two chances. Oil Kings outshot the Royals 30-29.
St. Croix, the number 1 star, had a goal and three assists for his four point night, while his line combined for eight points. Wruck with two goals, and Maxwell a goal and assist. The line now has 60 points since Maxwell joined the team 9 games ago. Wruck and Maxwell extend their point scoring streaks to a league leading 12 games.
Kevin Sundher’s assist keeps his 5 game point streak alive (3+5=8pts). Hodges now has points in his last 3. Brandon Magee picked up an assist playing in his hometown.
Victoria is off to play in Lethbridge friday night and stop in Medicine Hat before the Christmas Break. You can listen to everygame on The Zone at 91.3. www.thezone.fm
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