Oklahoma City Barons Game 6 Preview vs. Hamilton Bulldogs

Win or it's over. The Barons head into today facing their first playoff elimination game in franchise history. The last time they had this kind of pressure though, they went into San Antonio and beat them 7-2 and into Austin the next night and beat the Stars 2-0. Different teams, different situation, but the pressure to win was still there and they didn't fold.

Following the Barons first loss, Todd Nelson changed the lines around to find some chemistry. After a shutout loss in Game 5, it'll be interesting to see if they get shuffled for tonight's game. Probably the biggest question is if Anthony Aiello will get the start again, with both Colten Teubert and Kevin Montgomery still out with upper body injuries. Brandon Davidson has been practicing with the main group as the 7th defenseman.

The top two keys to today's game, first is shutting down Nigel Dawes. The Bulldogs are 3-0 in the games that he has scored this series. The second is the top line of Alexandre Giroux, Brad Moran, and Colin McDonald. To have the top 3 scorers on the team during the regular season have only 1 goal and 1 assist each this whole series is not good. If they're able to get back where they were and the other 3 lines back to where they were in Game 3, winning these next two games won't be hard.

The Barons look to become the 7th AHL team to win both games 6 and 7 on the road. Binghamton became the 6th team last night, closing out the Manchester Monarchs in overtime. Elsewhere, the Lake Erie Monsters look to close out the Manitoba Moose for the 2nd time. The Moose avoided elimination in their last game winning 2-0. The Monsters hold on to a 3-2 series lead there. Their game is at the same time as the Barons.

Puck drops at 3:00 Central/2:00 Mountain today. You can listen on 96.1 KXY in OKC, or on The Team 1260 in Edmonton. You can watch the game on AHL Live as well($$). And you can follow me on Twitter, @AHLBarons, as well. Hopefully I'll be writing up one of these tomorrow, but time will tell.

-Written by Eric Rodgers-

Oklahoma City Barons Game 5 Recap; Barons Get Blanked

For the 5th time this season, their 3rd time on home ice, and the 2nd time against Hamilton, the Barons were shutout. After averaging 35 shots for and 27 shots against in Games 1-4, the Barons were only able to put up 20 shots, with 6 of those coming in the last 3 minutes. The Power Play woes continued, with the Barons going 0/7 on the night, 1/26 on the series.

The 1st period started off on a low note. After an Alex Plante slashing call, the returning Aaron Palushaj would pick up a loose puck in the crease during the PP and put the puck past Martin Gerber. Not helping was 2 Barons players getting caught together and Palushaj was able to break free. The Barons would only be able to put 3 shots on goal in the period and that would be the score as the teams headed to the locker room.

The 2nd period wouldn't be much better for the Barons. They couldn't connect on 2 PP chances and would have to kill what was essentially a 4 minute penalty after a questionable Goalie Interference call to Chris VandeVelde and an obvious slash in front of the referee to Alex Plante right after VandeVelde's penalty was over. The Barons were able to hold off the Bulldogs, but at 18:33 Nigel Dawes would get the puck and score to make it a 2-0 Bulldogs lead. Gabriel Dumont would take a kneeing penalty before the horn would sound to end the 2nd.

The Barons wouldn't be able to score on the Dumont PP, or the Dany Masse high stick call drawn by Zack Stortini early in the period. The Barons would only be able to get 2 shots on net for the majority of the period, and Gerber would be pulled with 2:10 left for the extra attacker. After Alex Plante almost tucked it into the empty net as he picked the puck up, they Barons would rush and Alex Henry would give the Barons a chance with a crosschecking penalty at 18:19. The Barons would manage 6 more shots in the period, but Drew MacIntyre would stand tall and earn the shutout as the final horn sounded.

The Barons now face a tall order of winning 2 in a row in Copps Coliseum as the teams head back to Hamilton. If they want any chance at it, they're going to have to start scoring on the PP and most of all, just shooting the puck period. There was reluctance to shoot in Game 5, and the Bulldogs were quick to exploit that. Obviously a 46 shot game will net you some goals, and if the defense helps the goalie, it'll make it into a win. Game 6 is Sunday with the puck drop at 3 Central/2 Mountain. If you're in the OKC area, there will be a watch party for the game at Rococo North Park location at May and 122nd.

-Written by Eric Rodgers-

Oklahoma City Barons Game 5 Preview vs. Hamilton Bulldogs

For Game 1 in what is now a best of 3 series, the Barons look to keep the momentum of their 2 straight wins and to have the series lead as they head back to Hamilton. The goaltending remains to be the key to both team's success. After the 3 goals by Hamilton against Jeff Deslauriers in Game 1, the Bulldogs have only been able to put 6 goals past Martin Gerber in the first 4 games, while the Barons have managed 7 against Drew MacIntyre in the last 2. With Curtis Sanford out for the year for Hamilton, it's very unlikely that we'll see rookie goalie Robert Mayer in net for the Bulldogs after his 9-10-2-2 record and .890 SV% from the regular season.

With Kevin Montgomery and Colten Teubert both out with upper body injuries, Anthony Aiello will step in again. Obviously a big attribution to keeping the Bulldogs from scoring has been the defense, and they'll need to keep it up without two of their big shots from the point for another game.

The Barons needed the secondary scoring from the lower 3 lines to start showing up, and it finally did in Game 4 with the only problem being that the top line didn't make the scoresheet. Once all four lines are able to click together, any team will have a hard time stopping them.

Puck drops at 7:05 Central/6:05 Mountain. Also going on tonight at 7:30 Central is Game 5 of the Lake Erie/Manitoba series. The winner of that series will face the winner of the Barons/Bulldogs series. The Monsters have a 3-1 series lead and look to close out the Moose in what possibly could be their last game in Manitoba depending on how the Phoenix Coyotes situation ends. You can listen to the Barons game on KXY 96.1 in OKC or on The Team 1260 in Edmonton. You can watch the game on AHL Live($). With today being Good Friday, I will be at tonight's game, so you can follow along on my Twitter account, @AHLBarons.

-Written by Eric Rodgers-

Oklahoma City Barons Game 4 Recap; Brand New Series

After losing 5-2 to Hamilton in Game 1, the Barons dished it right back to the Bulldogs by winning Game 4 with the exact same score. With the 5 players that the Oilers sent down after their season having been with the Barons for a couple weeks now, the lines are starting to work together and the team's starting to get better. The top line of Alexandre Giroux - Brad Moran - Colin McDonald was notably absent on the score sheet on Wednesday night, but the other three lines stepped up and filled the void.

Most notably, just 3:06 into the game as the Barons were in the Hamilton end of the ice, Hunter Tremblay would steal a clearing attempt near the slot and backhand the puck past Bulldogs goaltender Drew MacIntyre to make it 1-0. That goal would be Tremblay's first pro goal. Seven minutes later, Nigel Dawes would get a pass from Dustin Boyd and shoot it towards Martin Gerber. Gerber would make the initial save but Ian Schultz would put it in and tie the game at 1.

The Barons would get a few chances early in the 2nd from Teemu Hartikainen, but he would be denied each time. 5:40 in, Ryan O'Marra would shoot a one-timer towards the net that Zack Stortini would tip and the puck would make it across the line to make it a 2-1 Barons lead. 8 minutes later, Paul Zanette would fire a screened shot past Gerber to tie it back up at 2. As the 2nd period wound down, the Barons would finally break through on the Power Play. After a Kyle Klubertanz holding call, Arcobello would receive a pass at the point and blast it by MacIntyre who was screened and send the teams to the locker room with a 3-2 Barons lead.

The Barons spent quite a bit of time on the Power Play in the 3rd, but wouldn't be able to break through the Hamilton PK. 11:26 in though, Linus Omark would do what he does best. Omark and Hartikainen would come into the zone on a 2 on 1. Hartikainen shot it towards MacIntyre but missed the net. Omark picked up the puck on the end boards and shot it at the back of MacIntyre's legs. The puck banked off and into the net of a stunned MacIntyre as the Barons grabbed a 4-2 lead. Hamilton would get one more chance on the PP, but couldn't score. They pulled MacIntyre for the extra attacker with about 2 minutes left, but Chris VandeVelde would put away the game with the empty netter at 19:20, assisted by Jeff Petry.

The Barons look to head back to Hamilton with the series lead as they head into Friday's Game 5. Still questionable are defensmen Kevin Montgomery and Colten Teubert, but Anthony Aiello stepped up well in their place on Wednesday. Would have to imagine that Gerber stays in net for Game 5 with how well he's been playing this week. Puck drops at 7:05 Central tomorrow.

Oklahoma City Barons Game 3 Recap, Game 4 Preview; Barons Bite Back

The Barons are almost starting their first postseason in franchise history like they started their first regular season in franchise history. First a sizeable loss, then a minimal loss. Only this time, they skipped over the OT loss and jumped right into shutting out the opposing team, which is exactly what they needed. After having trouble figuring out Hamilton goaltender Drew MacIntyre, they finally got the puck past him, while Barons goaltender Martin Gerber stepped up and kept his net empty.

After two scoreless periods that saw good chances by both teams, the Barons finally broke through midway through the 3rd. After the Barons killed off a sketchy Colin McDonald crosschecking penalty, Brad Moran took a shot from the high slot that got past MacIntyre and probably would have gone in, but McDonald wasn't going to take any chances and weaved in past MacIntyre and drove the puck into the net to break the scoreless tie. It wouldn't end there though, as Alexandre Giroux would steal the puck from Frederic St. Denis, fall to his knees as he was battling with him, get back up and just put it right past MacIntyre to make it 2-0.

That would end up being the final score and the Barons would cut into the Hamilton series lead making it 2 games to 1 now. The Barons shift their focus to tonight and look to build on the win as they head into Game 5 on Friday. Colten Teubert went down late in the 3rd last night as he went to check a Bulldogs player but ended up landing awkwardly into the boards shoulder first. He would go to the locker room and the only diagnosis being an "upper body" injury. Hopefully it isn't too serious as him and Richard Petiot were both dealing out some hard checks last night. If Teubert goes out and Kevin Montgomery remains out after his injury in Game 2, it's hard to say who would be next in the lineup. Whether they go with Anthony Aiello, who's with the team on a PTO after the Stockton Thunder's exit in the playoffs, or with an ATO like Brandon Davidson or Martin Marincin. It'll be an interesting dynamic to tonight's game either way.

While the Barons seem to have figured out a way to beat MacIntyre, seemingly by wearing him down and throwing shot after shot on him, the team really needs to get their PP working. The Barons are 0/12 on the PP against the Bulldogs in the series.

Puck drop tonight is at 7:05 Central/6:05 Mountain. The Barons will also be competing with the NBA Thunder and the Triple-A baseball Redhawks, as all three have games starting at 7. Definitely going to cause traffic problems as 25,000ish people are all going to be in a 3 block radius trying to get to the games and probably trying to leave at close to the same time. You can listen to the game on 96.1 KXY in OKC or on The Team 1260 in Edmonton. You can also watch the game on AHL Live($). I yet again will have to work tonight, so I'll be unable to tweet the game, but you can follow with @ryaber(Ryan Aber of The Oklahoman) or @OKC_Barons if you would like to go that route.

Tuesday's shot count
Hamilton: 6-10-10-26 0/6 PP
OKC: 15-11-20-46 0/6 PP

Tonight's referees: Tim Mayer, Jean Hebert; Linesmen: Randy Sappo, Carl Sasyn

-Written by Eric Rodgers-