MEDICINE HAT, Alta. — The Edmonton Oil Kings grabbed the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference on Tuesday with a 6-4 victory over the Medicine Hat Tigers in Western Hockey League action.
Edmonton and Medicine Hat had to play a tie-breaker to decide the second wild-card position in the East after the two clubs tied for points through 72 regular-season games.
Luke Bertolucci struck twice and Payton Lee made 39 saves for the Oil Kings, who will now play the top-seeded Brandon Wheat Kings in the first round of the WHL playoffs.
Brett Pollock scored once and set up two more for Edmonton, which also got goals from Dario Meyer, Brandon Baddock and Andrew Koep.
Mason Shaw, Chad Butcher, Caleb Fantillo and Mark Rassel found the back of the net for the Tigers. Nick Schneider stopped 30-of-35 shots in a losing cause.
The Oil Kings went 2 for 2 on the power play while Medicine Hat failed to score on five chances with the man advantage.
Brandon will host Game 1 of the best-of-seven series against Edmonton on Thursday — the opening night of the WHL post-season.