Post by QC Mike on Dec 2, 2020 17:48:26 GMT -7
The rematch with the Rangers at the Quad Cities Qualcomm Quonset Hut saw Barclay Goodrow and Jake Debrusk take the ice to start the tilt. Goodrow was expecting to have to answer for knocking Debrusk out of the last game while Jake had other ideas. Goodrow was woefully out of position as Debrusk took the the feed from Jeff Petry off the opening face-off and beat Ben Bishop low glove side eighteen seconds into the match to give the visitors the early lead. Before the shift was over, Ryan O'Reilly's one timer on a pass from Max Pacioretty beat Bishop to give Oxford a 2-0 lead before the game was two minutes old. Gabriel Landeskog made it 3-0 at the four minute mark and the Quad Cities coach was seen talking to Philip Grubauer on the bench. The game settled down a bit and it looked like the Q-Men were working back into it when Nazim Kadri was sent off for slashing. Ryan O'Reilly and Kris Letang worked a give and go off the face-off with O'Reilly cross ice feed to Petry leading to an easy tap in and a 4-0 lead after one.
The second period was a listless affair with neither side doing much of anything although it did see Quad Cities' first successful penalty kill when Greg Pateryn received an Unsportsmanlike Conduct penalty call for too vociferously arguing an offside call shortly after Kadri had been sent off (again) for slashing. The third period saw the Quarrymen come out with some grit, Elias Lindholm opening the scoring for the home side on a fine individual effort while Gabriel Landeskog was in the penalty box for the third time in the game. Just after the half way point of the third with Nino Niederreiter was off for Delay of Game, Ryan Strome tipped Charlie McAvoy's shot-pass behing Tukka Rask to draw the home side within two. While the Q-Men pressed to close the gap, they weren't able to breach the Ranger's defence and Max Pacioretty's empty netter with two minutes remaining sealed the deal and saw the visitors off with the 5-2 victory and the season sweep.
Oxford 5 (7+1EN) vs Quad Cities 2 (8)
1st Star: Tukka Rask 2 GA on 8 chances, 21 saves
2nd Star: Ryan O'Reilly 1 G, 2 A
3rd Star: Elias Lindholm 1 G, 2 chances