PHOTO: Cherie Morgan/Cherie Morgan Photography
PENTICTON, B.C. – The Penticton Vees used a 24-save shutout from Carter Serhyenko while six different goal scorers combined for a 6-0 victory over the Salmon Arm Silverbacks on Wednesday night at the South Okanagan Events Centre.
The Vees came out as the more aggressive team, getting out to an early shot lead and registered the first goal of the game courtesy of Casey McDonald at the 9:55 mark of the opening period. The puck went down behind the Silverbacks net as McDonald gathered a loose puck and wrapped it around on the blocker side of Salmon Arm goaltender Owen Say for his 18th marker of the season and a 1-0 lead in the middle of the period.
Penticton continued to apply pressure as the period went along and ended up outshooting the Silverbacks by a 17-3 margin the opening 20 minutes with Say having to turn aside 16 of the 17 shots thrown his way.
A four-goal 2nd period outburst was a big reason for the Vees winning their 40th game of the regular season, including Luc Wilson giving Penticton a 2-0 lead 4:40 into the middle frame. McDonald started the play on the right wing as he made his way into the offensive zone and sauced a pass to the left-wing side as Wilson accepted the puck and beat Say on the glove side for his 26th goal of the season and a two-goal advantage.
Josh Nadeau finished off a nice passing play just under two minutes later at the 6:33 mark of the 2nd period with his 37th goal of the season, tying Simon Tassy for 2nd in the BCHL in goal scoring. Adam Eisele gained entry into the offensive zone as he fed a puck to the middle as Bradly Nadeau swept the puck to the left-wing as Josh banged it home for a 3-0 advantage.
The Vees continued to find the scoresheet and for the second straight game, Grayson Arnott found the back of the net to give Penticton a 4-0 lead. Stefano Bottini fought off Mike Ladyman for a loose puck in the offensive zone and fed a pass to the trailing defenseman in Arnott, who stuck a shot past the glove side of Say for his 6th goal of the season and a four-goal lead.
Penticton capped off their four-goal period courtesy of Aydar Suniev, who notched his 8th goal of the season to put the Vees ahead by five goals on the power play. Suniev gathered the puck in the middle of the ice as he glided into the offensive end, fighting through a check and backhanded a shot from the slot off the blocker of Say and in at the 14:22 mark of the 2nd period for a big lead.
Carter Serhyenko had to make a strong stop in the early going in the 3rd period, sliding to his left to deny Nathan Mackie of a chance at the bottom of the right face-off circle with the glove side to keep the Vees lead at 5-0.
Spencer Smith concluded the scoring for the game at the 16:34 mark of the period as he banked the puck off of Silverbacks goaltender Liam Vanderkooi, who replaced Say after the 40 minutes, with his 9th goal of the season and extended the Vees lead to 6-0.
Carter Serhyenko turned aside each of the 24 shots thrown his way in his 2nd shutout of the season and 8th triumph of the year while Owen Say made 23 saves on 28 shots in his 8th loss of the season while Liam Vanderkooi made 14 saves on 15 shots in relief after coming on in the 3rd period.
FINAL SCORE: 6-0 Vees
SHOTS ON GOAL: 43-24 Vees
3 STARS:
1) Carter Serhyenko (24-save shutout)
2) Grayson Arnott (1-1-2)
3) Casey McDonald (1-1-2)
Fortis Energy Player of the Game: Stefano Bottini (0-1-1)
Attendance: 2,861
The Vees (40-7-0-2) will have the next nine days off as they will prepare for their next game on Friday, March 18th with a two-game trip to the East Kootenays to face-off against the Cranbrook Bucks (25-19-2-2). Puck drop is set for 7:00 PM MST with the game available on Bounce Radio 800 as well as streamed online at BCHLTV.ca beginning with the pre-game show at 6:40 PM MST.
