PHOTO: Cherie Morgan/Cherie Morgan Photography
PENTICTON, B.C. – The Penticton Vees used a three-point night from captain David Silye to help them to their third straight win on home ice, defeating the Vernon Vipers by a 4-1 score on Saturday night at the South Okanagan Events Centre.
The Vipers opened the game with a shot advantage of 6-1 in the first six minutes of the contest with Yaniv Perets standing tall in the Penticton crease. The Vees used that momentum to turn the play in their favour and eventually open the scoring in the game at the 11:57 mark to give them a 1-0 lead.
The puck got back to the midpoint where Ethan Martini slid a pass to the left point as Conner Hutchison let a shoot go that deflected off a Viper stick in front of goaltender Reilly Herbst and past his blocker side to give the Vees a 1-0 advantage on Hutchison’s 4th tally of the season.
A late power play provided an opportunity for the Vees to get ahead by a pair of goals and they did just that, striking with 26 seconds remaining in the frame to give Penticton a 2-0 advantage. Evan McIntyre spotted David Silye in the high slot as he picked the blocker side of Herbst with his 12th goal of the season to send Penticton to the dressing room with a two-goal lead.
Penticton added to their advantage early in the 2nd period, extending their lead to 3-0 at the 1:37 mark of the middle stanza with Lukas Sillinger finding the back of the net. David Silye drove the net wide on the left-wing side as he sent a pass from below the goal line on the blocker side of Herbst with Sillinger banging in the pass over the glove side of the Vipers netminder for his 13th goal of the season and a 3-1 Vees advantage early in the 2nd period.
The Vees continued to control the middle frame, outshooting the Vipers by an 11-3 margin and had some good looks in the 2nd period including a Tyler Ho opportunity as he knocked down a puck at the blue line and got behind the Vipers defence, throwing a shot just wide of the glove side of Herbst with the Vees lead carrying into the 3rd period.
Vernon cut the deficit to two goals at the beginning of the 3rd period, making it a 3-1 game at the 3:05 mark of the final frame with Logan Cash taking a Ben Helgeson pass from the right wing and beat Perets on the blocker side that cut the Vees lead to two goals.
A quick response helped the Vees to regain their three-goal advantage as Carson Kosobud tallied his second goal in four games. A Sillinger pass came to the midpoint where Kosobud collected and shot past the blocker side of Herbst with traffic in front of the net for his 3rd goal of the season and a 4-1 lead at the 7:45 mark in the 3rd period.
The Vees were able to keep the Vipers at bay in the final part of the 3rd period as they earned a 4-1 victory to complete the second half of the home-and-home. Yaniv Perets turned aside 20 of the 21 shots he faced in his 16th win of the season while Reilly Herbst made 31 saves on 35 shots in his 3rd loss of the season.
FINAL SCORE: 4-1 Vees
SHOTS ON GOAL: 35-21 Vees
VEES PP: 1/2
VEES PK: 2/2
3 STARS:
1) David Silye (1-2-3)
2) Lukas Sillinger (1-1-2)
3) Ethan Martini (0-2-2)
Fortis Energy Player of the Game: Tyler Ho (0-0-0)
Attendance: 2,979
The Vees (26-10-1-0) finish off their pre-Christmas schedule with a pair of home games, beginning on Friday night as they host the Island Division’s Powell River Kings (17-15-2-0) to conclude their two-game season series. Puck drop is slated for 7:00 PM with tickets available for purchase at the SOEC Box Office as well as ValleyFirstTix.com.
