On paper, it was the dreaded game before the big game.
But the Victoria Grizzlies made sure they remained focused on the task at hand Friday night 鈥� beating the Island Division鈥檚 last-place team, the Alberni Valley Bulldogs.
Twenty-four hours before an Island Division first-place showdown with the Powell River Kings, the Grizzlies put their Island-best 14-4-2-3 record on the line against the Bulldogs (6-14-3-0) on Friday at The Q Centre.
Led by veteran Tyler Welsh, the home side beat the Bulldogs 4-1 in front of 989 fans, including plenty of parents, kicking off parents weekend.
The victory kept the Grizzlies even with the Kings in points with 35, but Victoria has two games in hand. The two teams square off tonight at The Q Centre.
After jumping out to a 2-0 first-period lead, the Grizzlies might have started to think ahead to tonight as the pesky Bulldogs kept up the pressure and cut the lead to one midway through the second, when Cayden Kraus buried a shorthanded breakaway past Grizzlies netminder Tony Rehm.
It stayed close until midway through the third, when Lucas Clark鈥檚 wrister from the slot sailed over the shoulder of Bulldogs goalie Brody Claeys.
Cam Thompson iced it for the Grizzlies with an empty-netter in the dying seconds.
鈥淚 think we just took our foot off the gas a little after we went up by two, but we quickly found out that those guys don鈥檛 quit and we had to grind one out to the end,鈥� said Welsh, who scored his 13th and 14th goals of the season.
Playing without leading scorer Cole Pickup, who was serving his third of a four-game suspension, the Grizzlies moved Keyvan Mokhtari up to the top line with Welsh and Nathan Looysen, and it paid early dividends. Mokhtari set up both of Welsh鈥檚 goals and the line was threat on almost every shift.
鈥淜eyvan brings a lot of speed so he keeps the defence honest, so it鈥檚 really nice to play with him,鈥� said Welsh, who will head to the NCAA and Yale University next season.
The Grizzlies started newcomer Rehm in goal and, although he wasn鈥檛 busy facing 21 shots, he improved to 2-0 since coming over from the Alberta Junior Hockey League鈥檚 Brooks Bandits last month.
The Grizzlies also put to work their league-best penalty-killing unit. The Bulldogs had five power plays but came up empty on all of them.
鈥淲e鈥檝e been outworking teams on the kill, and it has really helped us and you saw that tonight,鈥� added Walsh.
And now, it鈥檚 on to Powell River, which beat Trail 2-1 on Friday.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e going to come here ready to play, we know that, so we鈥檙e going to have to get on them right off the hop and we鈥檒l be OK,鈥� Welsh said.
Grizzlies GM and head coach Craig Didmon said his team is still learning to put games away.
鈥淓ven when it was 3-1, [the Bulldogs] were pushing so we have to learn to follow up a good period with another,鈥� Didmon said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a mental thing and we鈥檙e maturing and starting to be accountable to each other, and we turned it around and found a way.
鈥淎nd it鈥檚 a tough weekend for us, so getting that first one was important and now we can move on with some confidence.鈥�
After tonight鈥檚 game, the Grizzlies will host the Trail Smoke Eaters on Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m.
