Penticton, BC: The Penticton Vees (26-9-2-3) looked like a different team over the final 40 minutes compared to the opening period Saturday night, scoring three times in the second and third en route to a 6-2 win over the Chilliwack Chiefs (19-17-2-2).
The first period was a tough one for the Vees, they registered just four shots on net and turned the puck over multiple times in their own zone. Ryan Miotto stole the puck in the slot and fired a wrist shot past the blocker of Adam Scheel to open the scoring 2:50 into the game.
Following the first intermission, the Vees did a complete 180 and took the pressure to the Chiefs. Chris Klack scored his first goal since returning from injury when his pass from the slot deflected back to him and he let a wrist shot go into the top corner over Mathieu Caron’s blocker.
Halfway through the period the Vees went to their first power play of the game. James Miller took a feed from Klack and let a one timer go from the blue line that got through all the traffic in front of the goal for his first of the season.
A little over four minutes later, Jonny Tychonick carried the puck from his own zone towards the Chiefs end. After gaining the line, Tychonick cut to the middle of the ice and dropped the puck off for Dakota Boutin joining the rush. Boutin skated in and beat Caron over the glove to give the Vees a 3-1 lead,
Tychonick was given a double minor for high sticking shortly after, and 10 seconds into the power play Corey Andonovski’s wrist shot from the right circle beat Scheel five hole to make it 3-2 Penticton heading into the third period.
Marcus Mitchell restored the Vees two-goal lead early in the third as Ryan Sandelin took the puck away just inside the Chiefs zone before sending to Mitchell in the right face-off circle. Mitchell took a few strides before firing a shot past Caron to make it 4-2.
Wyatt Sloboshan showed off some puck handling ability 10 minutes later as he skated into the Chiefs zone, put the puck between his own legs before powering to the net. His shot was stopped but Klack jumped on the rebound for his second of the game.
Boutin would add an empty netter to cap off the scoring as the Vees remained undefeated in 2018 with the 6-2 victory. Penticton now prepares for a three games in three days stretch next weekend when they play in Prince George Thursday before returning home for games Friday and Saturday against Merritt and Trail.
