Barons Lose Pivotal Game 5 at Home

The loss brings OKC one loss away from playoff elimination with no more home games in the series.

Thursday, May 26th 2011, 12:21 pm

By: News On 6

Originally Published: Apr 23, 2011 12:37 PM CDT

Corey DeMoss
Oklahoma Sports Staff Writer

OKLAHOMA CITY – The Oklahoma City Barons’ offense sputtered Friday in a 2-0 loss to the Hamilton Bulldogs that now puts OKC on the brink of playoff elimination.

The Bulldogs began the scoring early in the first period with a power play goal from Aaron Palushaj. The Barons managed only three shots in the entire first period, which ended with Hamilton leading 1-0.

The score remained the same through the majority of the second period, and Oklahoma City managed to kill five consecutive power plays without allowing a goal. But the Barons could not put the puck in the net, and Nigel Dawes scored off a rebound late in the period to put Hamilton up 2-0.

Oklahoma City missed several opportunities in the third period and remained scoreless. With time running out, Hamilton committed a penalty to give OKC a power play. Head coach Todd Nelson elected to pull the goaltender for a 6-on-4 advantage, but it still did not matter. The Barons failed to score and the buzzer sounded to seal the loss.

The teams came into the night tied 2-2 in the series, with Game 5 marking a huge turning point. The Bulldogs now are up 3-2 and are only one win away from eliminated OKC. The Barons will have to win twice on the road if they are going to come away with a series win.

The next game will be played at 4 p.m. Saturday in Hamilton. If the Barons win that game, they will force a decisive Game 7 at 7:30 p.m. Sunday.