Persistence paid off in the form of a priceless two points for the Okotoks Oilers on Friday.
Okotoks fought through poor puck luck and the stellar goaltending of Sandro Silvestre to outlast the Bonnyville Pontiacs 3-2 in an Alberta Junior Hockey League shootout thriller Friday at Pason Centennial Arena.
“It’s good to grind out a win like that for us,” said Oilers forward Kaleb Ergang. “Since we’re at the top of the league we’re going to get everyone’s best every night and we have to expect that.”
In the third game of a southern road swing, the visitors gave the top squad in the provincial loop all it could handle.
Dylan Holloway opened the scoring for Okotoks, chipping in a rebound off the boards answered quickly through a powerplay marker from Bonnyville’s Kash Rasmussen.
The Pontiacs added to their exploits on the man-advantage in the middle frame, taking the lead on an Adam Sandstrom tally. Okotoks then evened the score through defenceman Ryan Roberts with just over a minute left in the period.
The Oilers took the game over in the latter half of the tilt, firing 36 shots at Silvestre in the final 40 minutes of regulation and five minutes of overtime. Silvestre made 47 saves in the loss.
Bonnyville had a golden opportunity to steal the extra point in overtime as Joel Ray broke free for a clearcut breakaway with 14 seconds left only to have Okotoks’ Ben Howard flash the leather for a sublime glove save to send it to the shootout.
“Their guy (Ray) was coming in pretty quick with a lot of speed and he shot it right in my glove,” said Howard.
The rookie netminder then stood tall in the shootout stopping three of four Pontiac shooters.
Okotokian Kirby Proctor scored the lone shootout marker for Bonnyville in the second-round, answered immediately by Okotoks’ Zane Kindrachuk.
Ergang notched the game-winner in the fourth round, going high glove for his first shootout tally of the season.
Okotoks made it seven straight wins in a 5-0 road shutout Sunday over the Olds Grizzlys.
Kyle Gordon, Nick Blankenburg, Quinn Olson and Blake Wells scored even-strength markers while blueliner Jacob Bernard-Docker added the other on a shorthanded tally.
The Grizzlys were held to just 18 shots as Riley Morris picked up his second shutout of the season.
The 20-year-old improved his save percentage to .949 and goals against average to 1.24.
The Oilers (23-2-1) get a chance to avenge one of their two regulation losses this week as part of a three-game sojourn to the north from Nov. 30-Dec. 2
Okotoks opens the trip in Fort Mac versus the division leading Oil Barons, the first meeting since the MOB picked up a narrow 3-2 win over Okotoks in October, followed by dates with the Bonnyville Pontiacs and Lloydminster Bobcats.
For more information go to okotoksoilers.ca
