The Winkler Flyers have lost back to back games in regulation for the first time all season after coming up short in Virden on Saturday night. After scoring twice in the first six minutes of the game, the Flyers failed to build off their great start and suffered a 4-3 loss at the hands of the Oil Caps.
After a rare day off on the road, thanks to a bus mechanical issue forced the postponement of Friday’s game in Waywayseecappo, the Flyers made their way to Tundra Oil & Gas Place in Virden for their second meeting of the season against the Oil Capitals. The Flyers beat Virden 3-2 in their first meeting of the season back in October and came into the game with a seven point edge over the fourth place Oil Caps in the standings.
The Flyers came out of the gate strong and scored twice in the first six minutes of the game. The first was a power-play goal, 4:15 into the period. Scott Gall was the recipient of a nice centering pass from Tyler Jubenvill and the third year Flyer picked the top corner for his 16th of the season. Kayden Jarvis also assisted on the goal.
Just 1:42 after that, Tristan Keck drove through the Virden defense and tucked a back handed shot between the legs of goaltender Sean Kuehn to double the Flyers lead to 2-0. Zak Hicks and Connor Hamonic assisted on Keck’s 24th of the season.
Virden would reply with a power-play goal of their own with just over a minute to play before the break and Winkler led 2-1 after one, despite being outshot 16-9.
After a scoreless second period, the Oil Caps began the third on the power-play and tied the game 2-2 with their second goal on the man-advantage, 1:23 into the final period. However, Kayden Jarvis restored the Flyers one goal lead, tipping in the Tyler Jubenvill point shot and Winkler was back in front thanks to the assistant captain’s sixth goal of the campaign.
But just under two minutes later, the Oil Caps tied the game again during a goal mouth scramble, and not even two minutes after that, Virden took advantage of a costly neutral zone turnover and took the lead for the first time in the game.
Now trailing 4-3 with 7:56 left in regulation, the Flyers went hunting for the equalizer that, despite their best efforts, would not come.
Nathan Warren (3-2-1) played well while making 32 shots in the loss as the Oil Capitals outshot the Flyers 36-32. Virden won the special teams battle as Winkler went 1-for-2 on the power-play but only 2-for-4 on the penalty-kill.
The Flyers, who are 0-3-1 since the Christmas Break, will finally return home on Tuesday, January 12th against the Portage Terriers (7:30pm @ Winkler Recreation Complex). The Flyers have not played at home since defeating the Winnipeg Blues in their final game before the Christmas Break on December 19th. Winkler is 2-2 vs Portage this season.
The MJHL trading dealine is Sunday, January 10th at midnight. Stay tuned for an updates to the Flyers roster.
GREAT CANADIAN OIL CHANGE THREE STARS
1st Star – D Tyler Jubenvill (Winkler)
2nd Star – F Kayden Jarvis (Winkler)
3rd Star – F Ben Dalke (Virden)
WINKLER CANVAS HARDEST WORKING FLYER
D – Zak Hicks