VICTORIA 3
SWIFT CURRENT 1
The Victoria Royals鈥� 3-1 Western Hockey League victory Tuesday night in Swift Current, Sask., played to a familiar refrain: Begin work quickly and then hold tough.
鈥淲e again got off to a good start and played a really strong team game overall,鈥� said Royals head coach Dave Lowry.
The Royals鈥� two undersized but flash-quick 17-year-old forwards, Matthew Phillips with his fifth goal of the season, and Dante Hannoun with his eighth, staked Victoria to a 2-0 lead before the game was 10 minutes old. That chased starting Broncos goaltender Travis Child from the net after just eight shots.
鈥淸Phillips and Hannoun] are both very good players who understand the game and know how to get into areas to score,鈥� said Lowry.
Victoria (11-5-1), which has earned nine of a possible 10 points in its last five games, is 3-0 on its six-game, 5,000-kilometre road odyssey through Saskatchewan and Manitoba.
All the scoring Tuesday came in the first period in front of 1,885 fans. Cavin Leth pulled Swift Current (6-8-2) to within one on a short-handed goal at 13:21. But on that same eventful Victoria power play, Tyler Soy pulled the trigger to make it 3-1 at 15:04.
Alex Forsberg assisted on all three goals to retake the Victoria scoring lead with 18 points from defenceman Joe Hicketts (17).
Bow and six-foot-five, 20-year-old Landon Bow combined to make 29 saves in the Swift Current crease. Coleman Vollrath made 29 saves for Victoria, including in a third period in which the pressing Broncos outshot the Royals 13-2.
Swift Current is led by forward Jake DeBrusk, who came out of seemingly nowhere in his WHL career as an obscure seventh-round bantam draft pick, to become the 14th overall player selected in the first round of the 2015 NHL draft by the Boston Bruins. But DeBrusk had to leave the game in the first period after taking a heavy shot by Hicketts off an ankle. DeBrusk didn鈥檛 return. That put a huge dent in the Broncos offence, including its league top-five power play, considering DeBrusk鈥檚 line has accounted for more than 60 pe cent of Swift Current鈥檚 scoring.
鈥淲e got a break,鈥� Lowry added.
Victoria鈥檚 WHL top-ranked penalty-kill unit held the Broncos鈥� odd-man to 0-3. The Royals鈥� power play went 1-2.
The Royals road trip continues tonight in Moose Jaw against the Warriors (8-4-3), led by WHL scoring-leader (30 points) and Tampa Bay Lightning-signed Brayden Point.
鈥淲e can鈥檛 make it easy for him,鈥� warned Lowry about Point, a player he will coach as Canadian team bench boss at the 2016 world junior championship.
