On the strength of a 3rd period four goal explosion, the Edmonton Oil Kings manged to knockoff one of the hottest teams in the WHL on Friday night, beating the Spokane Chiefs by a score of 4-1. Curtis Lazar led the comeback with a pair of goals, in what was the season debut of captain Griffin Reinhart. The former 4th overall pick had been returned to the club earlier in the week by the NHL's New York Islanders.

PHOTO CREDIT - OilKings.ca

Edmonton - October 12, 2013 - For the second time this young season, the Edmonton Oil Kings have knocked off a first-place team.

The Oil Kings (4-5-0-0) rallied from an early goal against with four in the third period, two by Curtis Lazar, to down the Spokane Chiefs (6-2-0-0) 4-1 Friday night at Rexall Place.

“It was a solid effort from start to finish,” said Oil Kings Head Coach Derek Laxdal. “From (goaltender Tristan) Jarry out tonight.”

Spokane opened the scoring less than two minutes into the game as a puck was redirected off Michael Aviani’s shin and past goaltender Tristan Jarry. Upon review, the goal stood for an early 1-0 Chiefs lead.

The score stayed that way until early in the third when Edgars Kulda poked home a loose puck in the crease to finally break Spokane goalie Eric Williams’ shutout. Lazar followed with a breakaway goal, backhanding in his own rebound, and another on a sharp cut to the net to make it 3-1.

“We a big talk, a nice analogy about momentum: those strong men pulling those planes. They just got to keep on going to keep the momentum going, and that’s what we did,” Lazar said.

Tristan Jarry made 16 saves to pick up the win, including a huge stop on WHL leading scorer Mitch Holmberg when the latter broke in alone in the third.

“It’s huge. To see Tristan kicking for us was great,” Lazar said. “That was a much needed performance for him from his confidence standpoint.”

“For Jarry to stop that breakaway and keep us in the game, it was outstanding,” Laxdal added.

Mitch Moroz rounded out the scoring with an empty-net goal, extending his scoring streak to seven games. Henrik Samuelsson also extended his streak to seven games with an assist on Kulda’s goal, while defenceman Cody Corbett picked up a pair of assists and continues to lead WHL defencemen with 14 points.

The Oil Kings will be back in action Tuesday, October 15 when they take on the Prince Albert Raiders.