Interesting, bizarre, frustrating and dominant.
There are probably many more words to describe Friday’s 4-2 Smoke Eaters win over the visiting Merritt Centennials.
Trail dominated the first two periods, outshooting the visitors who were riding a three-game winning streak 33-10 over the first forty minutes, but only two shots got past Centennials netminder, Karlis Mezsargs.
Jason Stefanek’s deflection of a Jack Kennedy point shot about 11-minutes into the first period and Christian Kim’s conversion of a rebound during a goalmouth scramble at 2:22 of the second period. The Latvian puck-stopper kept the Centennials in the game with many key and sensational saves.
The Smoke Eaters continued to carry the play early in the third period and Josh Schenk gave the home side a 3-0 lead about five minutes into the final frame with a sneaky, back-to-the-net backhander from close range and it looked like Trail would cruise to victory.
The Centennials would go on the power play just past the seven-minute mark and that’s when it got interesting, frustrating and mind-boggling.
Smoke Eaters defenseman Patrick Reilly got run over with a knee to the head while falling by a Merritt forward and while he lay injured on the back boards, Michael Felsing skated across the crease and put the first shot of the night past Smokies goalie Ryan Parker.
The Centennials cut the lead to one just over two minutes later, when Charles-Thomas Larochelle’s shot from deep in the left-wing circle on a broken play found the far corner of the net.
That goal came about a minute after Trail’s Lucas Marshall and Trail native Jacob Smith of the Centennials were ejected for fighting and the four other skaters on each team were given ten-minute misconducts for not going to their benches.
The Smoke Eaters came up big on the penalty kill late in the period and were unable to put the game away on a power play of their own.
Adam Parsons put the victory on ice, racing down the left side and snapping a shot into the empty net with 40-seconds remaining.
The Smoke Eaters outshot Merritt 48-26 and were 0-for-4 on the power play. The Centennials went 1-for-2.
Parker picked up his third victory of the season.
For the second straight Saturday night, the Smoke Eaters host the Penticton Vees after last weekend’s home-and-home split that saw each team record 4-3 overtime victories on home ice.
The Vees rebounded from a 2-0 second period deficit Friday night in Cranbrook to post a 4-2 victory. Penticton leads the Interior Conference with a 5-1-1-1 record. The win on Friday gives Trail a record of 3-1-3.
