PHOTO: Cherie Morgan/Cherie Morgan Photography
PENTICTON, B.C. – The Penticton Vees used a two-goal performance from Luc Wilson and a 27-save shutout from Kaeden Lane to help them to their second straight victory in a 3-0 defeat of the Trail Smoke Eaters on Saturday night at the South Okanagan Events Centre.
The Vees earned the first two power plays of the game, creating good pressure on the opening man advantage before striking on their second attempt, coming immediately after the first power play and came just seven seconds into the power play off the stick of the red-hot Luc Wilson.
Fin Williams took a shot off the face-off from the right point as Wilson redirected the shot on goal with Smoke Eaters goaltender Logan Terness making a right pad save before the rebound jetted to Wilson in the slot as he buried on the blocker side for his 8th goal of the 10:04 mark of the opening period to give the Vees a 1-0 lead.
Terness had to come up with another big stop on a net drive from Williams at the tail end of the opening period. The Vees captain made his way down the right wing and cut to the goal on the blocker side as he sent the puck in front for Ryan Upson, who had his attempt on net sit in the crease with Terness moving to his right to keep the puck out and the game 1-0 after the opening 20 minutes.
The Smoke Eaters opened the middle stanza with the most of the chances, outshooting the Vees by a 9-4 margin at one point in the frame before the Vees starting to turn on the pressure and finished the period with an 8-1 shot advantage and eventually were able to draw the lone goal in the 2nd period and jump ahead by a 2-0 score.
The Vees were afforded that lead after a strong defensive play from Ethan Martini, who got down to a knee to block a wide open net for Chase Dafoe at the bottom of the left face-off circle that Martini was able to get in front of on the shot attempt and keep the Vees lead at one goal.
The game remained tight before Liam Malmquist pushed his squad ahead by a 2-0 margin with just seven seconds remaining in the 2nd period with his 3rd goal of the season. Josh Niedermayer chipped a pass across to the right side where Malmquist took a shot that was stopped by the glove of Terness before the rebound spilled back to the Vees forward as he backhanded a shot past the Smoke Eaters netminder to send Penticton into the 3rd period with a two-goal advantage.
Kaeden Lane made his presence felt in the 3rd period, turning aside 13 shots thrown his way in the final period of play after stopping each of the 14 shots thrown his way in the opening 40 minutes of play to keep the Vees ahead.
Wilson added to the Vees advantage in the 3rd period and scored his second goal of the game at the 13:51 mark of the final frame for his 9th tally of the season to give Penticton a 3-0 lead. Wilson took a chip pass on the right wing as he blazed into the right face-off circle and snapped a shot over the glove side shoulder of Terness for his second goal of the night and a 3-0 Vees lead.
Lane made one final big stop to end the 3rd period and conclude his night, sliding from his right to left and robbing Quinn Disher on a 6-on-4 advantage for Trail at the end of the game with 58 seconds remaining to keep the shutout alive and help the Vees to a 3-0 victory.
Kaeden Lane was terrific in the Penticton crease, stopping each of the 27 shots thrown at him for his 3rd shutout of the season and his 6th win of the campaign while Logan Terness stopped 28 of the 31 shots thrown his way in his 2nd loss of the season.
FINAL SCORE: 3-0 Vees
SHOTS ON GOAL: 31-27 Vees
VEES PP: 1/6
VEES PK: 4/4
3 STARS:
1) Luc Wilson (2-0-2)
2) Kaeden Lane (27-save shutout)
3) Ethan Martini (0-2-2)
Fortis Energy Player of the Game: Coalson Wolford (0-0-0)
The Vees (8-1-0-0) are back in the middle of a back-to-back matchup as they face-off against the Cranbrook Bucks (1-7-0-0) on Sunday evening at the South Okanagan Events Centre. Puck drop is slated for 4:00 PM with the game broadcasted live on EZ Rock AM 800 as well as on HockeyTV.com beginning with the pre-game show at 3:40 PM with the Voice of the Vees, Trevor Miller.
