Seven teams are officially in, including Prince George, Everett and Seattle in the Western Conference.
鈥淭he intensity鈥� everything now gets amped up,鈥� said Victoria Royals coach Dave Lowry.
鈥淵our guys have to start understanding that every game matters.鈥�
After the 3-2 victory Sunday night over the Vancouver Giants at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre, the West seventh-seed Royals鈥� magic number is four. Any combination of regulation-time wins by the Royals or regulation-time losses by the ninth-place Spokane Chiefs adding to four will assure Victoria its sixth consecutive playoff berth and the Royals/Chilliwack Bruins franchise its eighth straight.
It just so happens the tidy storyline has the Chiefs (25-27-9) in town Friday and Saturday at the Memorial Centre, so a Royals two-game sweep of Spokane in regulation time would do it and guarantee Victoria a playoff spot. It wouldn鈥檛 necessarily eliminate the Chiefs, but their hopes already hang by the slenderest of threads after losing their last three games.
The Royals, meanwhile, are getting the hang of this sweep thing. For the second time in less than a month, Victoria swept a three-game-in-three-nights set from the Giants.
Victoria鈥檚 power play, which was torrid in the set, struck again Sunday with goals by Vladimir Bobylev and Dante Hannoun as the Royals moved to 35-23-5. Jared Dmytriw, with his third goal in two games, also scored for Victoria. Jack Walker added two assists.
Rookie Dylan Myskiw took the win in goal for Victoria with 24 saves. The Royals forced Vancouver鈥檚 more-harried Ryan Kubic into 35 saves.
The lowly Giants (19-39-5) will miss the playoffs for the third consecutive season and fourth time in the past five years. This rivalry has been a bountiful source of points for Victoria, which leads the 10-game season series against Vancouver 8-0-1.
The Royals line of Phillips, Bobylev and Dmytriw has produced well of late. Phillips extended his points streak to six games with four goals and seven assists in that stretch. Bobylev is on a four-game points run with three goals and four assists.
鈥淲e all three bring our own special ingredients to the line,鈥� said Dmytriw.
鈥淸Phillips and Bobylev] are high-skilled NHL prospects and they will find you.鈥�
The line of Walker, Hannoun and Regan Nagy was also effective in the Vancouver set. But Lowry wants to see better up and down the lineup when things are even.
鈥淥ur power play was the difference Friday [scoring five times in the 6-4 victory] and we scored two power-play goals Sunday. I want to see more from us five-on-five,鈥� said the Royals bench boss.
The Royals are without three significant injured players. Anaheim Ducks draft pick Tyler Soy is listed week to week while forward Ryan Peckford, ranked the 87th North American skater for the 2017 NHL draft, and Los Angeles Kings-prospect defenceman Chaz Reddekopp are both out four-to-five more weeks.
Lowry said Soy was in a track suit but wasn鈥檛 sure if the playmaker from Cloverdale would be able to skate this week.
ICE CHIPS: Victoria beat Spokane 4-2 in the first round of the playoffs last year. It is the Chiefs鈥� first visit to the Memorial Centre since then. . . . If the Western Conference playoffs were held today, based on winning percentage, Victoria would meet Prince George; Portland would play Everett; Kamloops would face Kelowna; and Seattle would meet Tri-City.
