By Terry Martin
The Saints started their 5-game road trip to start off their December with 2 games against the Fort McMurray Oil Barons. Spruce Grove also just came off their first loss at the Grant Fuhr Arena, so they looked to get back into the win column in tonight’s tilt. The Saints and Oil Barons will also battle it out for first place in these weekends’ games. Fort McMurray is 3 points behind the Saints as they sit in 2nd place in the North with 46 points. This will also mark the first time the Saints have faced the Oil Barons this season.
Jesse Burchart would score first for the Oil Barons as he would get the puck in the net on a back door play. Justin Ross would then score from the slot after a pass out in front to put Fort McMurray up 2-0 a few seconds later. Both teams would trade 2 power play opportunities in the period and the Saints would still trail by 2 after 20 minutes. The Saints would get 7 shots in the frame while the Oil Barons would fire 15.
Max McCoy would score first for the Oil Barons in the second period, going high glove on the Saints goaltender. Justin Ross would then score 10 minutes later to get his 2nd goal of the game and put the Oil Barons up 4-0. The Saints would remain off the scoreboard and still trail 26-9 in shots.
Caiden Gault would get the Saints on the board with a glove side snipe with just under 9 minutes remaining in the game. Coster Dunn would get his 2nd assist and 3rd point in the season on the Gault goal. The Saints would come up short despite the late push as they drop their 2nd game in a row, losing 4-1. Final shots in the game favoured Fort McMurray, 32-17.
Both teams will faceoff tomorrow at 7:30 for the rematch as the Saints continue their road trip.