OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. – The Barons’ win came from three lines, including a rookie scoring the first goal of the game, and his first pro goal. Three-minutes into the game, former Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) college player Hunter Tremblay scored an unassisted goal when he seized a turn-over behind the Hamilton net. ***image#2*** “Anytime you are new on a team, you are trying to prove yourself; one of the best ways to do that is with a smart goal,” said Tremblay. He continued by commenting on the balanced scoring. “It is a bit of an advantage having four lines.” Hamilton evened the score mid-way through the first period. The Baron’s second goal was scored by Zack Stortini, on a rebound. Again, the Bulldogs evened the score abut eight minutes later. On the Baron’s fourth power play opportunity of the game, a new occurrence happened: they capitalized and scored a power play goal; the first of this series. Mark Arcobello scored on a pass from Linus Omark, yet credited his teammates. “They are definitely creative, they get a lot of scoring opportunities,” said Arcobello. Coach Nelson was complimentary of the former ECHL player. “During his second call-up we paired him with some more offensive guys. “Arkie” plays the point on the power play, and he wins key face-offs,” said Nelson. This goal would hold-up as the game winning goal. This same line of Teemu Hartikianen, Omark, and Arcobello scored the “insurance” goal with 8:34 remaining in the game. “Tonight that was the line to go with. They’re a fun line to watch, they are always on the puck,” said Nelson. This line has six points for the post-season. Both Omark and Hartikianen were previously called-up to Edmonton and played on a line together for the Oilers before being returned for the Barons’ post season. “He is strong on the puck and wins battles,” said Omark of line-mate Hartikianen. The Barons were ahead by a score of 4 to 2 late in the third period, when the Bulldogs decided to pull their goaltender for an extra skater. Defenseman Jeff Petry passed the puck to rookie Chris VandeVelde who shot at an empty net. This was VandeVelde’s first point of the post-season. The usual scoring MGM line of Brad Moran, Alex Giroux and Colin MacDonald was held without a point for this game. The other three lines combined for 12 points. “We are getting contributions from every line, that really helps out. It is very nice to have that depth,” said Nelson. “I feel comfortable with the match-ups, we are getting contributions from every line,” said Nelson. All five Oklahoma City goal scorers earned their first goal of the post-season in this game. ***image#1***Veteran goaltender Martin Gerber was solid in net, stopping 29 of 31 shots on goal. His save percentage for the post-season is 0.942. Game 5 of this series is played in Oklahoma City on Friday night. Game 6 will be played in Hamilton on Easter Sunday at 3:00 pm. If a Game 7 is necessary, if will be played the following night, also in Hamilton. Contact the writer at: gail.hamill@prohockeynews.com
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