After what he called an “embarrassing” loss in Game 1 of the American Hockey League Western Conference Finals, Oklahoma City Barons captain Bryan Helmer spoke to the team about the urgency needed in Friday night's Game 2 against the Toronto Marlies.

Helmer's message hit home, and the Barons bounced back strong, beating Toronto 5-1 to even the best-of-7 series in front of 2,621 at the Cox Center. Toronto started the series Thursday night with a 5-0 victory. A loss on Friday night would have put the Barons in a huge hole with Games 3, 4 and 5 in Toronto.

“We were ready to go,” Magnus Paajarvi said. “It was really bad last night, and they pushed us away in our own rink. That's not acceptable. It's a war out there. We've got to go out there and win the battles to win the war and we did that.”

One of the critical battles in the game plan was the way the Barons worked at the Toronto blueline.