POWELL RIVER聽 3
VICTORIA聽 2
Powell River leads series 2-0
The good news is the Victoria Grizzlies have been down this road before and lived to tell about it.
The bad news is the Powell River Kings are not the Alberni Valley Bulldogs.
For the second straight game in the sa国际传媒 Hockey League鈥檚 Island Division final, the Grizzlies鈥� offence was stymied at almost every turn by Kings netminder Matteo Paler-Chow, allowing the Kings to take control of the series with a 3-2 win.
Powell River now heads back to Hap Parker Arena for Games 3 and 4 on Monday and Tuesday with a 2-0 series lead.
The Grizzlies again had the edge in shots 鈥� 41-32 鈥� and had some great scoring chances.
But while Grizzlies forwards such as Jamie Rome, Justin Michaelian, T.J. Friedmann and Alex Newhook were left looking to the heavens after getting robbed by Paler-Chow, Kings鈥� snipers Carter Turnbull and Kyle聽Kawamura made no mistake聽when they were left alone in front of Grizzlies netminder Zack Rose.
鈥淲e鈥檝e done some good things in these first two games and can take some positives out of them, but again some mental mistakes in our own end proved costly,鈥� said Grizzlies captain Drayson Pears.
鈥淏ut, that being said, we know the position we鈥檙e in and know what we have to do to fix them, so we get ready for Game 3 now.鈥�
Powell River winger Hunter Findlater opened the scoring with just 24 seconds left in the first period when he was left all alone at the side of the net for an easy tap-in against the flow of play as the Grizzlies outshot the Kings 12-7 in the first.
Then it was Kawamura with plenty of time in the slot to wire one past Rose just 1:24 into the second period.
Josh Colbenz finished off a breakaway midway through the second period to give the Kings some much-needed breathing room.
The Grizzlies did break through late in the second when defenceman Carter Berger followed a Friedmann shot and flipped it over Paler-Chow.
Then Cam Thompson brought The Q Centre to life in the final minute of the third with a short-handed goal. But Paler-Chow didn鈥檛 mind bending, he just wasn鈥檛 going to break.
The rookie is now 5-1 in the post-season, with a goals-against around two.
鈥淗e鈥檚 a gamer and a battler and he鈥檚 been that way all year, and now he鈥檚 seeing results, so we couldn鈥檛 be happier for him,鈥� Kings coach Brock Sawyer said of his netminder, who was the game鈥檚 first star for the second straight night.
The Kings have also smothered the Grizzlies鈥� power play, which was ranked No. 1 in the regular season.
The Grizzlies got just one opportunity on Saturday, but are now 0-for-7 in the series.
鈥淎ny time you give up six power plays to this team you鈥檙e taking a chance, so we wanted to come back and be more disciplined and we did a good job of that tonight,鈥� Sawyer said.
鈥淲e didn鈥檛 waver from our game plan, clogged up the neutral zone, and then got pucks on net and found ways to score.鈥�
The Grizzlies, who are 2-4 on home ice in the playoffs, now hit the road having seen this movie before, going down 3-0 to Alberni before rolling off four straight victories.
鈥淲e know what鈥檚 ahead of us,鈥� Pears said.
鈥淲e like playing in their rink, there鈥檚 always lots of energy so, hopefully, we can do the same thing they did to us.鈥�
LOOSE PUCKS: The Grizzlies were without winger Ryan Nolan who was injured early in the second period of Game 1.
