Hear the highlights: [audio: http://pmd.country933.com/audio/oil_barons/mobhighlights_feb26.mp3]
The Fort McMurray Oil Barons are firmly in the driver’s seat of their best-of-five playoff series with the Grande Prairie Storm, after an 8-4 victory at the Casman Centre in Game 2 on Sunday night.
The MOB takes a 2-0 series lead and can clinch on Tuesday night in Grande Prairie.
The Barons have scored more goals in the first two games of this series (14) than they scored in the first two games of last year’s opening round against the St. Albert Steel (12).
Storm head coach Blaine Bablitz made the surprising decision to bench veteran goaltender Patrick Terriss in favour of rookie Curtis Skip, who had relieved Terriss less than 10 minutes into Game 1.
The move did not pay off for the Storm, who allowed seven goals past the rookie netminder, capped off with an eighth goal by defenceman Mike Puddifant into an empty net.
After one period, two powerplay goals by first star Kevin Lacroix bookended a Mitch Neumeier goal for the Storm to make it 2-1 after 20 minutes.
Storm captain Neumeier ended the game with two goals and one assist.
The Barons pulled out to a 5-2 lead in the second on the strength of goals by Puddifant, Mitchell Board, and Brock Maschmeyer, but allowed the Storm to score twice late in the middle stanza to make it a one goal game after 2.
But the third period belonged decidedly to the MOB, as they outshot the Storm 15-9 and potted three more goals; a Carson Cooper rebound, a Justin Rose cross-crease one-timer off of a John Dunbar pass from the corner, and Puddifant’s empty netter.
Puddifant ended the night with two goals and one assist while forward Markus Gerbrandt chipped in three assists as well.
The game was a chippy affair with more than two hundred penalty minutes awarded by referee Cody Rude; rookie defenceman Mike Green dropped the gloves with the Storm’s Adam Boytinck late in the second period of his first playoff game.
Game 3 of the series goes on Tuesday night in Grande Prairie; pre-game coverage begins at 7:15 on Country 93.3.
If necessary, a fourth game will be at the same time Wednesday night in GP, and a fifth would be Saturday night at the Casman Centre.
