Calgary beats Edmonton to retain Eastern Conference lead

The Calgary Hitmen scored four unanswered goals en-route to a 6-2 win over the Edmonton Oil Kings Saturday night at Scotiabank Saddledome.

It was the first time in three tries this season the Hitmen beat the team that eliminated them from the WHL playoffs a year ago in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Final.

Elliott Peterson led the way with his first career hat trick, capping the performance with an empty net goal.  Peterson now has four goals in his last two games giving him eight on the season.

Jake Virtanen, Chase Lang and Pavel Padakin also scored for Calgary who got out-shot 36-16.

Chris Driedger made 34 saves in a second star performance behind Peterson.

Brady Brassart and Colby Harmsworth both had a pair of assists for the Hitmen who improved to 23-8-2-3.

Calgary has now played exactly half of their 72 game regular season schedule and are on pace for 46 wins and 102 points.

The Eastern Conference leading Hitmen will welcome the Kootenay Ice (19-17-2-1) to the Saddledome Monday night for a 7 o'clock start.

                                         Photo Credit:  Brad Watson - Calgary Hitmen

Edmonton Oil Kings 2 at Calgary Hitmen 6
Saturday, December 28, 2013 - Scotiabank Saddledome - Calgary, AB

Edmonton 2 0 0 - 2
Calgary 2 2 2 - 6

1st Period
1, Calgary, Virtanen 19 (Jones), 0:59.
2, Calgary, Peterson 6 (Brassart, Chase), 8:52.
3, Edmonton, Eller 3 (Petryk, Samuelsson), 15:23.
4, Edmonton, Pollock 13 (Mayo, Samuelsson), 19:43 (PP).
Penalties-Petryk Edm (checking from behind), 2:14; Jarry Edm (roughing), 4:04; served by Babych Cal (too many men), 6:04; Virtanen Cal (hooking), 18:48.

2nd Period
5, Calgary, Peterson 7 (Brassart), 3:28.
6, Calgary, Lang 3 (Mahon, Helgesen), 16:19.
Penalties-Samuelsson Edm (interference), 13:59.

3rd Period
7, Calgary, Padakin 12 (Lang, Harmsworth), 13:49 (SH).
8, Calgary, Peterson 8 (Harmsworth), 18:17 (EN).
Penalties-Samuelsson Edm (slashing), 6:36; Brassart Cal (cross checking), 6:36; Padakin Cal (hooking), 10:51; Mayo Edm (holding), 11:07; Jones Cal (checking to the head), 13:03; Helgesen Cal (hooking), 14:31.

Shots on Goal
Edmonton 12-13-11-36. Calgary 6-4-6-16.
Power Play Opportunities
Edmonton 1 / 5; Calgary 0 / 4.
Goalies-Edmonton, Jarry 22-10-0-1 (15 shots-10 saves). Calgary, Driedger 15-7-2-3 (36 shots-34 saves).
A-9,909
Referees-Jonathan Spurgeon (7), Derek Zalaski (8).
Linesmen-Reid Anderson (53), Sean Donnelly (109).