EDMONTON - The Edmonton Oil Kings are one win away from their first Western Hockey League title in franchise history.
Captain Mark Pysyk scored with 56 seconds left to play as Edmonton defeated the Portland Winterhawks 4-3 on Saturday in Game 5 of the WHL final.
The Oil Kings now have a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series. Game 6 is Saturday in Portland.
Pysyk's wrist shot through traffic beat Portland goalie Mac Carruth to the glove side, putting Portland on the brink in the battle for the Ed Chynoweth Cup.
"Great for Mark, he's been a horse in the series," said Oil Kings head coach Derek Laxdal. "He's joined the rush, he's on the penalty kill, matching lines, up on the power play. His leadership on the ice is second to none.
"All the little things he does... is just outstanding. The effort that the guys gave, knowing Portland was going to come hard, we found traction as the game went along"
Heading back to home ice, Winterhawks head coach Mike Johnston feels his club will have a leg up in game six with an impressive record in their own barn, both in the regular season and playoffs.
"It's a hard loss. It was a well-played game both ways," Johnston said. "In the third period, we did a lot of things we wanted to do. If we play that way at home (Saturday) we'll be fine. I feel we've played well enough to have won the last two games, so certainly coming home we have a big advantage having won 31 out of 36 games at home this year and losing just two in the playoffs."
Jordan Peddle scored twice for Edmonton and Rhett Rachinski added a goal for the Oil Kings.
"It's a big win for us obviously, down 2-1 in the series to come back and going into game six in Portland," Laxdal said. "We know it's going to a tough task in (Portland) and we have to be up to it."
Marcel Noebels, Ty Rattie and Sven Bartschi had the Portland goals, with Rattie's marker coming on the power play as the Winterhawks went 1-for-4 on the man advantage.
Noebels opened up the scoring just 1:45 into the game with a one-timer fed from behind the net by Bartschi.
Griffin Reinhart put the Oil Kings up 2-1 with a wrister from the point that deflected off a Portland defender at 4:44 into the second period.
Rattie tied it 2-2 five minutes into the second when he was left all alone in front while on the power play.
Two minutes later Peddle restored the Oil Kings' lead by picking up a loose puck at the side of the net and firing it home into a wide open net.
Just over five minutes into the third Bartschi knotted it 3-3 with a feed from Noebels in behind the net.
Carruth finished with 31 saves while Laurent Brossoit stopped 28 shots at the other end for Edmonton.
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