They may need to phone a friend or use some other lifeline.
The Victoria Grizzlies are the No. 2 seed in the sa国际传媒 Hockey League playoffs, but are suddenly in a world of trouble in just the first round against a team that placed 25 points behind them in the regular season.
The Grizzlies find themselves on the verge of elimination following Monday night鈥檚 3-0 loss to the Kings in Powell River.
The Kings took a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five series, meaning the favoured Grizzlies must win Game 4 tonight in Powell River and a deciding Game 5 on Wednesday night at Bear Mountain Arena to advance to the second round.
The Kings came into the series with a losing regular-season record at 20-25-11, but have managed to win two consecutive against the Grizzlies, after Victoria won the opening game 5-2 on Friday.
Second-period goals by J.P. Villeneuve, the second short-handed, opened the scoring. Drew Dorantes, unassisted, made it 3-0 for Powell River at 1:46 of the third period as Victoria鈥檚 season began to hang by a diminishing thread.
Jonah Imoo needed only 14 saves for the shutout. Brady Rouleau made 23 saves for Victoria.
Perhaps this wake-up call was coming for an injury-riddled Grizzlies team that went into the post-season on a six-game winless streak, although the injury situation eased a bit heading into the playoffs.
The only thing for sure now is the Grizzlies have no losses left to give to Powell River this season.
