PHOTO: Cherie Morgan/Cherie Morgan Photography
PENTICTON, B.C. – The Penticton Vees used a Tristan Amonte 2nd period goal and 29 saves by Yaniv Perets to help them to their 35th win of the season in a 2-1 victory over the Salmon Arm Silverbacks on Saturday night at the South Okanagan Events Centre.
Opening the game with some strong possession inside of the offensive zone, the Vees were first to hit the scoresheet at the 6:17 mark and came courtesy of a shorthanded goal, Penticton’s 8th shorthanded tally of the season.
Steve Holtz intercepted a pass on the right wing as he skated down the right side with a breakaway to the front of the goal. The Vees defender made a fake move to his backhand while keeping the puck on his forehand, chipping a shot past the glove side of Silverbacks goaltender Ethan Langenegger for his 6th goal of the season and a 1-0 Vees advantage.
Penticton had a great opportunity to take a two-goal lead in the game but Langenegger was up to the task on a centering pass from the right-wing corner by Tyler Ho as he spotted Tristan Amonte for a one-time shot in the slot before Langenegger was able to go to his right and make a big stop to keep the deficit at one goal.
The Silverbacks evened up the score later in the period, at the 17:52 mark, with a power play marker. Nick Unruh took a pass in the left face-off circle with his first shot being blocked by a Vees defender before he collected the puck again and had his second shot get through the glove side of Vees goaltender Yaniv Perets to even the score into the 2nd period.
Just under five minutes into the 2nd period, Penticton regained their lead and took a 2-1 advantage at the 4:58 mark of the middle stanza as Tristan Amonte tallied his 15th goal of the season. A Tyler Ho shot from the left wing glanced off the stick of Amonte, who took the puck off the end boards and lifted a shot over the blocker shoulder of Langenegger to give Penticton a one-goal advantage.
Yaniv Perets remained strong in the Vees crease, making 9 saves in the middle stanza and turned aside 19 of the 20 shots he faced through 40 minutes. Perets had to be quick on an extended shift inside the defensive zone as the Silverbacks threw the puck to the net before the Vees goaltender reached out with his glove and snapped it out of the air to keep the game at a 2-1 Vees lead.
Salmon Arm found a cross bar early in the 3rd frame in their bid to tie the hockey game as Lucas Breault took a Daniel Rybarik pass on the right wing and got in behind the Vees defense as he snapped a wrist shot off the crossbar on the glove side to keep Penticton ahead by a goal.
The Vees saw a great chance to get their lead extended moments later on a terrific passing play between Tyler Ho, Colton Kalezic and Tristan Amonte. Ho freed the puck in the left corner as he passed to the left face-off circle as Kalezic dropped a pass through the slot as Amonte took the puck on his forehand and deked to his backhand but just lost the puck off his backhand as the game remained in favour of the Vees by a goal.
The final moments saw a big play by Jack Barnes, who dove across on the blocker side to slide and deflect a Noah Wakeford shot up and out of play on the penalty kill to keep the lead at one-goal.
The Silverbacks continued to press but Perets and the Vees stood tall to hang on for the victory. The Vees netminder turned aside 29 of the 30 shots he faced in his 20th win of the season while Ethan Langenegger stopped 23 of the 25 shots thrown his way in his 13th loss of the season.
FINAL SCORE: 2-1 Vees
SHOTS ON GOAL: 30-25 Silverbacks
VEES PP: 0/1
VEES PK: 4/5
3 STARS:
1) Yaniv Perets (29 saves on 30 shots)
2) Steve Holtz (1-0-1)
3) Nick Unruh (1-0-1)
Fortis Energy Player of the Game: Tyler Ho (0-1-1)
Attendance: 2,947
The Vees (35-11-1-1) play their final road game of the season as they travel to the Central Okanagan to face-off against the West Kelowna Warriors (11-26-5-2) on Tuesday night. Puck drop from Royal LePage Place is slated for 7:00 PM with the game broadcasted live on EZ Rock AM 800 as well as HockeyTV.com starting with the pre-game show beginning at 6:40 PM with the Voice of the Vees, Trevor Miller.
