Bryce Gervais scored twice and Mike Garteig made 30 saves, as the Penticton Vees skated away with a 4-1 over the Merritt Centennials on Tuesday night.
The win extends the Vees winning streak to 16 games; 12 straight on the road, including winning all six games on their road trip.
Gervais opened the scoring early in the first period after some nice work down low by Steven Fogarty.
Gervais quickly snapped a shot past Lino Chimienti at 3:23 of the opening period after Fogarty worked the puck loose from behind the net. The goal was Gervais’s 29th and fourth in as many games.
The Vees built upon their first period lead in the second, when Ryan Reilly scored his third goal in his last two games. On a three-on-one rush, Ryan came down the right-wing and quickly played pass with his brother Mike, before putting a wrist-shot over the glove of Chimienti at 8:47 of the middle frame.
In the third period, the Vees opened the scoring once more, just over five-minutes into the final period.
Once more the play was created by the hard work of Steven Fogarty; he intercepted an errant Merritt pass at center-ice before setting up Benik. Fogarty would come across the Merritt blue-line on the left side before sliding a pass across to Benik, who beat Chimienti on the glove side at 5:25.
The Centennials cut the deficit to two with a power-play goal late in the third period. Chad Brears pounced on rebound in front of the Vees net; sliding a puck past Garteig to spoil the shutout bid at 14:21.
Gervais, who opened the scoring, finished it with an empty-net goal with just a little over a minute remaining in the game. Gervais found a loose puck by the Merritt net after miscommunication between the Centennials defense; Gervais tucked in his 30th goal of the season into an empty-net at 18:43.
FINAL SCORE: 4-1 Vees
SHOTS: 31-29 Centennials
Power-Plays: Vees- 0/3 Centennials 1 / 2
Three Stars: 1) Bryce Gervais 2) Lino Chimienti 3) Steven Fogarty
Hardest Working Vee: Kyle Beaulieu
