PHOTO: Jack Murray
PENTICTON, B.C. – Danny Weight played hero in the extra frame as the Penticton Vees extended their win streak to nine games and collected their 40th win of the regular season in a 3-2 overtime victory over the Salmon Arm Silverbacks on Friday night at South Okanagan Events Centre.
A couple of good chances saw the Vees get involved early in the hockey game but the Silverbacks countered and came back the other way to garner the game’s opening goal and struck on their first shot of the contest at the 2:10 mark of the 1st period.
Coalson Wolford took the puck down the left wing and from the corner worked a pass to the slot as Logan Shaw was driving hard to the net and flipped the puck over the glove shoulder of Vees goaltender Yaniv Perets to give Salmon Arm a 1-0 lead early in the game.
A power play helped the Vees get some momentum back on their side and factored into Penticton tying the game at 1-1. Jay O’Brien sent a pass from the left wing across the ice where David Silye collected in the left circle and sent the puck to the slot as Lukas Sillinger batted the puck in for his 19th goal of the season, and 100th career BCHL point, to tie the game at one at the 8:18 mark.
With the game tied at 1-1 into the 2nd period, O’Brien collected his 23rd goal of the season to give the Vees their first lead of the game at 2-1. The Vees forward took the puck down the left wing and went around the net on his backhand before wrapping it in on the glove side of Silverbacks netminder Ethan Langenegger that helped Penticton to a one-goal lead.
As the middle stanza progressed, the intensity started to ramp up with plenty of gatherings after the whistle and the two teams showing no disdain for one another. Perets had to be sharp in the period, turning aside each of the eight shots he faced in the 2nd frame including a 3-on-1 chance for Salmon Arm with Simon Tassy firing from the slot before Perets punched the puck away with his blocker and has turned aside 13 of the 14 shots thrown his way through 40 minutes of play.Penticton came close to extending their lead to a pair of goals on a handful of their 13 shots in the 2nd period while Colton Kalezic found iron, hitting a crossbar on a chance in the slot as he backhanded a puck over Langenegger but could not beat the crossbar that would keep the game in the Vees favour at 2-1.
Penticton outshot Salmon Arm by an 11-3 margin in the 3rd period but the Silverbacks were resilient and evened the score late in the final regulation frame as Will Poirier scored in his fourth straight game to tie things up late.
Noah Wakeford started the play in the left-wing corner, sending a pass to the top of the left face-off circle where Poirier collected and fired a shot over the blocker shoulder of Perets with 4:03 remaining in regulation to tie the game at 2-2.
The game was destined for overtime for the first time in the two teams’ season series and it was all Penticton in the extra frame, controlling the puck for the majority of play before Danny Weight played hero and capped off the Vees 40th win of the season.
Steve Holtz made a strong play to get the puck back after having his initial shot blocked and sent a pass to the right side as Weight had Langenegger down and tried to beat him by his glove hand. The Salmon Arm goaltender made a sprawling glove side before Weight batted the rebound out of mid-air and past the outstretched glove of Langenegger for his 24th goal of the season and the overtime winner just 1:12 into the extra frame.
Yaniv Perets turned aside 16 of the 18 shots he faced in his 23rd win in between the pipes while Ethan Langenegger stopped 33 of the 36 shots thrown his way in his 2nd overtime loss of the season.
FINAL SCORE: 3-2 Vees (OT)
SHOTS ON GOAL: 38-18 Vees
VEES PP: 1/3
VEES PK: 2/2
3 STARS:
1) Danny Weight (1-1-2)
2) Lukas Sillinger (1-0-1)
3) William Poirier (1-0-1)
Fortis Energy Player of the Game: Nico Somerville (0-0-0)
Attendance: 3,110
The Vees (40-11-1-1) conclude their week with a rare Sunday home game as they finish off their six-game season series against the West Kelowna Warriors (14-30-5-3) at the South Okanagan Events Centre. The afternoon affair is set for 2:00 PM with tickets available for purchase at the Valley First Box Office as well as online at ValleyFirstTix.com.
