ARMOUR SCORES TO PUT TRAIL UP 1-0
Despite being out-shot 31-18 in the first two periods Zach Dyment gave the Smokies a chance to win with his 28 save performance over those two periods. It allowed the Smokies to overcome a 3-1 deficit in the second period with the teams going into the third tied at 3.
In the first period dominated by the Rivermen, Trail’s Ross Armour tallied his 13th of the season at 7:10 to put Trail up 1-0. Connor Brown Maloski and Andre Ghantous assisted on the goal. Ex-Smokie, Cooper Leitch, tied the game at 1 with his 10th of the season at 18:40.
In the second Langley continued their dominance scoring at 7:10 and 11:34 of the period to take a 3-1 lead on goals by John Schulat and Brendan Budy respectively. The Smokies fought back to tie the game at 3 when Blaine Caton scored his 9th of the year at 11:52 with Mitchell Barker earning the assist. At 15:43 Blaine Caton of the Smokies potted his 9th of the season to tie the game. Ross Armour and Connor Brown Maloski assisted on the marker.
Langley scored at the 40 second mark of the third to put Langley up 4-3, a lead they would not relinquish. Gavin Payne scored at 9:47 to put the Rivermen up 5-3 and at 18:40 with the Smoke Eater goaltender on the bench for an extra attacker Payne scored his second of the period into and empty net to put Langley up 6-3. The Smokies played a strong third period out-shooting the Rivermen 19-6 and had many glorious chances to tie the game but couldn’t capitalize on those chances.
GHANTOUS – MISSED CHANCE
Ex-Smokie, Cooper Leitch, returned to Trail and earned first star of the game. Teammate Gavin Payne with two goals on the night was named second star and the Smokie’s Ross Armour with a goal and an assist was named third star. Newcomer to the team, Carter Cochrane, was named Fortis Player of the Game.
LEITCH RETURNS – FIRST STAR HONORS
Shots were even in the game at 37 each, with Trail going 0/4 on the power play and Langley going 0/3.
Trail’s next home game is Saturday night when they host the Surrey Eagles. Game time is 7:00 PM at the Cominco Arena.
