The Fort McMurray dropped their second game in a row to the Whitecourt Wolverines, and now trail 2-0 in the opening-round playoff series. The Wolverines struck early and often in the first period, and then shut things down defensively throughout the remainder of the game to cruise to a 4-1 win. It was a penalty-filled affair, and one in which the Barons’ struggled to generate scoring chances throughout.
Game 2 picked up right where Game 1 left off, with back-and-forth action between both teams as they looked to open the scoring. It was Tyler Mahan who would do so for Whitecourt, taking a feed from Ethan Leyer in the slot and ripping a shot past Evan Fradette. The Barons would take back-to-back penalties, the first of which led to a second Wolverines goal off the stick of Ryan Wallz. Breyden Labant would score in between the two MOB penalties on a great individual effort, carrying the puck into the Barons’ zone and cutting hard to the net before slipping the puck past Fradette. Just before the period was set to expire, Hunter Lamb would connect with a hard open-ice check on Cassidy Bowes in the neutral zone, a hit that would ultimately lead to a game misconduct for Lamb for a blow to the head. Ryan Wallz took a retaliatory roughing penalty that would lead to 4-on-4 for 2 minutes to begin the second.
4-on-4 was in no short supply in the second period, a scoreless frame that saw the Wolverines enter shutdown mode, and the Barons struggle on the powerplay. Vincent Duplessis, who was sensational in net for Whitecourt in Game 1, was again rock-solid in Game 2.
The Barons finally found the back of the net in the third, when Duplessis turned the puck over while playing it to Ethan Jones. Jones fired it into the empty net, and gave the Barons brief life. Continued penalty trouble for the MOB would lead to another powerplay goal for Whitecourt however, as Joshua Corrow would fire a rocket from the blueline past Fradette for his second marker of the playoffs. 4-1 would prove to be the final, and Whitecourt would take a 2-0 series lead against the MOB.
Evan Fradette was busy, and again made some critical saves to give his team a chance to come back. The MOB will be without Hunter Lamb for the next two games, as he serves a suspension for the blow to the head penalty. Whitecourt forward Zach Cox has one game left on his suspension from Game 1. The series will now shift to Fort McMurray, with Games 3 and 4 Wednesday and Thursday night at the Casman Centre. The Barons will need to win one of those games to force a Game 5 in Whitecourt on Saturday. Tickets are available at the Casman Centre box office for both games, if you cannot make it out, you can catch all the action on Country 93.3.
