PHOTO: Alicia Baas/Alicia Baas Photography
POWELL RIVER, B.C. – The Penticton Vees used four power play goals and a 9-for-10 penalty kill to help them to their 11th straight win to begin the season, earning a 6-2 victory over the Powell River Kings on Friday night at Hap Parker Arena.
A game that featured plenty of special teams got its start early in the contest, with a power play in favour of the Vees and the man advantage vaulted the Vees into the lead. Danny Weight worked inside the blue line and sent a pass to the right face-off circle where Jay O’Brien collected on his forehand and went to the net on his backhand to finish off over the blocker of Kings goalie Matteo Paler-Chow for his 7th goal of the season and a 1-0 advantage just 1:30 into the game.
The Kings had a strong shift in the offensive zone and tied the game at the 5:04 mark of the opening frame with Jacob Slipec knotting the game at 1-1. Slipec gathered a rebound of a Davis Pennington left point shot and pushed it past the left pad of Vees netminder Yaniv Perets to even the score before the Vees were quick to counter and get the lead back.
1:26 later, David Silye got the Vees lead back courtesy of another power play marker to give Penticton a 2-1 advantage. Conner Hutchison had his midpoint shot bounce off the end boards as it sprung to the glove side of Paler-Chow where Silye banged the puck in for his 4th goal of the season and a one-goal Vees lead, which they held after the opening 20 minutes.
A good shift inside the offensive zone helped the Vees to a 3-1 lead just 48 seconds into the period. Lukas Sillinger had his slot shot go off target on the glove side of Paler-Chow before Evan McIntyre came in from the right side and from the bottom of the face-off circle pushed it past the left pad for his 2nd goal of the season and a 3-1 Vees advantage early in the 2nd period.
The third power play goal of the night gave the Vees a 4-1 lead and saw the end of the night for Paler-Chow. Lukas Sillinger got a pass in the slot that he steered toward the net and past the glove side of the netminder for his 4th goal of the season and a three-goal Vees lead at the 3:26 mark of the middle stanza.
17-year-old Brady Euerby came on in relief of Paler-Chow in the Powell River net and the Vees extended their lead to four goals moments later. O’Brien spotted an open Danny Weight on the glove side from the left wing as he finished off a backdoor play on a 5-on-3-man advantage for his 7th goal of the season and increased the Vees lead to 5-1 at the 6:55 mark.
Liam Malmquist capped off a four-goal second period for the Vees with some slick mitts in tight of the goal. Malmquist gathered the puck in the right face-off circle and moved to the net before scooping a shot over the blocker side of Euerby for his 3rd marker of the season at the 14:10 mark of the middle frame to extend the Vees advantage to 6-1.
A power play goal for the Kings was the only blemish on a strong Vees penalty kill on the night. Jacob Badal shot from the right face-off circle that was initially stopped by Perets before the puck trickled behind him and past the goal line at the 15:06 mark to cut the Vees lead to 6-2 late in the period.
The third period was played mostly on special teams with the Vees being called for seven penalties in the frame. Penticton killed each one of them off, going 9-for-10 in the game and Perets turning aside all 14 shots he faced in the frame to help the Vees to their 11th straight victory in a 6-2 win over Powell River.
Perets stopped 33 of the 35 shots he faced in the game for his 6th victory of the season while Matteo Paler-Chow turned aside 14 of the 18 shots thrown his way in his 7th loss of the season before Brady Euerby made his Kings debut, stopping 16 of the 18 shots he saw in relief.
FINAL SCORE: 6-2 Vees
SHOTS ON GOAL: 36-35 Vees
VEES PP: 4/7
VEES PK: 9/10
3 STARS:
1) David Silye (1-1-2)
2) Jacob Slipec (1-0-1)
3) Lukas Sillinger (1-2-3)
Fortis Energy Player of the Game: Jacob Badal (1-0-1)
Attendance: 968
The Vees (11-0-0-0) look to finish off their weekend strong as they face-off against the Alberni Valley Bulldogs (6-8-0-0) on Saturday night. Puck drop is slated for 7:00 PM from Weyerhaeuser Arena with the game available for broadcast on EZ Rock AM 800 as well as HockeyTV.com beginning with the pre-game show at 6:40 PM with the Voice of the Vees, Trevor Miller.
