The Trail Smoke Eaters fell victim to a slow start, a pair of second period power play goals and a prime time goaltending performance in a 6-3 Saturday setback in Sherwood Park.
The Crusaders opened the scoring just 25-seconds into the game when Jeremy Lorenger got his first of two goals on a rebound.
The Smokies took it to the Sherwood Park pack the rest of the period rolling up a 16-8 advantage in shots on goal, but couldn’t beat netminder James Venne, whose stops included a Jason Stefanek breakaway deke.
That trend carried into the second period when Venne robbed Attila Lippai on a point blank shot, after the 20-year-old winger stole the puck in front of the net in the opening seconds of the middle frame.
The Crusaders would tally twice on the power play to open a 3-0 lead by the 11-minute mark and would extend the lead to 4-0 just over three minutes later.
The Smokies kept pouring shots on Venne, including a Lucas Lemieux snapper that leaked through the 20-year old’s pads, but trickled just wide of the net.
They finally solved the Saskatchewan-based puck stopper with just over a minute to go in the second period, when the Smoke Eaters power play patiently moved the puck around the perimeter with motion until Jack Ziliotto got open to snipe one into the top corner.
Lippai would avenge the earlier stop by Venne by scoring on a superlative solo effort about two minutes in the third period. He curled out of the right-wing corner, battled through two defenders, cruised through the crease and shoved the puck into the far corner to cut the deficit to 4-2.
Then, while killing a penalty, Callas Pierce broke in alone and almost scored while being hooked and was awarded a penalty shot.
The 18-year-old who scored twice the night before in Spruce Grove, tried a backhand-to-forehand move, but Venne made the low, stick-side save.
Moments Later, Lemieux stepped out of the penalty box, broke in alone, was pulled down and he too was awarded a penalty shot.
However, Venne made a similar save on Lemieux’s attempt at his fifth goal of the season.
The Crusaders would add another two goals as Christien Chouha and Loranger would add their second goals of the game.
Chouha jammed in a rebound and Loranger lifted in a high riser from the slot to put the game out of reach with less than three minutes remaining.
Drew Anastasio’s seeing-eye screen shot from the point would round out the scoring.
It is the first regular season goal for the 19-year-old Smokies rookie rearguard after he tallied twice during the preseason.
Trail outshot the Crusaders 36-31, while going 1-for-3 on the power play and killed off 5-of-7 Sherwood Park advantages.
Venne was the game’s first star for the second straight night, after backstopping the Crusaders to a 4-1 Friday night win over Salmon Arm.
Ryan Parker battled and made some great saves in his first start of the season and first game action in three weeks. Two Crusaders goals went in off the far post, one was bar-down and two were point-blank rebounds after difficult stops. The other was the high riser from the slot.
The Smokies now face the challenge of meeting the unbeaten and defending Alberta Division and Rocky Mountain Challenge champion Bandits in Brooks.
It will also be their third game in less than three nights and comes after a 4 1/2 hour overnight bus trip to the southern Alberta city.
The Bandits have also been resting since a 4-1 Friday night win over Penticton and Trail takes on a team that has outscored their opponents 14-2 in three games.
The contest commences at 3 p.m. Pacific Time (4pm MT). It can be heard on Mixlr and watched on FloHockey.
The Smoke Eaters return home Friday Oct. 4 to host the West Kelowna Warriors in the opener of a home-and-home series. Great seats are still available and fans are encouraged to skip the line and select their seats online at Tickets.TrailSmokeEaters.com.
