The Victoria Grizzlies have displayed great resiliency this year in bounce-back games, having lost two straight just three times all season in the sa国际传媒 Hockey League.
Saturday night was no different in earning a 6-3 victory over the Salmon Arm Silverbacks at the Shaw Centre in the Interior, rebounding from an unsettling 6-3 loss the night before in Langley against the Rivermen.
鈥淲e were in a bit of shock [Friday] with our first loss in regulation time in 14 games,鈥� said Grizzlies assistant general manager and assistant coach Craig Didmon. 鈥淲e had a quick meeting, watching the video from that one and having some closure to it.
鈥淭he boys were not happy with their effort [Friday]. They came out real hard tonight and Salmon Arm played hard, it was like a playoff game.鈥�
David Mazurek and Myles Fitzgerald scored goals 2:44 apart eight minutes into the first period as the visiting Grizzlies out-shot the Silverbacks 9-3 in the opening stanza.
Fitzgerald鈥檚 goal extended his incredible point-scoring streak to 21 games as he continues to mingle with the league leaders in points, but he left the game in the third period with a cut above his eye on a high hit.
Steve Iacobellis made it 2-1 on a late first-period power play for Salmon Arm.
Grizzlies captain Zach Urban restored the two-goal lead with a power-play marker two minutes into the second period for Victoria, which lost 6-4 to Nanaimo and 3-2 in overtime to Cowichan Valley back on Dec. 29 and Jan. 2 鈥� the last time the Grizz lost two straight.
Leo Fitzgerald, with a pair, and Keyler Bruce also scored for the Grizz while Brady Rouleau earned the win in goal. Alex Gillies had the other two goals for the Silverbacks.
Victoria improves to 32-10-0-6 and remains in first place overall in the league while Salmon Arm falls to 21-21-2-4. The Grizzlies are also 8-2-0-1 vs. Interior Division teams on the season.
It鈥檚 not known if Myles Fitzgerald will be out for any length of time. The team is already missing triplet Gerry Fitzgerald, who is out due to injury.
鈥淭he two of them [Myles and Leo] were doing real well, battling with the fact that they didn鈥檛 have Gerry on that line,鈥� said Didmon. 鈥淭hey were producing and the team needs that, we rely on that.鈥�
Victoria rounds out the weekend road trip in Vernon today against the Vipers at 4 p.m. and the Grizzlies return home on Saturday to play host to Alberni Valley at 7:15 p.m. at Bear Mountain Arena.
Twitter/tc_vicsports
