The Smokies open a two-game long-weekend run on the road tonight in Vernon.
The Trail boys have had a week to prepare, after posting a 5-1 win last Friday night over Spruce Grove at Cominco Arena.
It was a bounce back game following a 5-2 loss to Brooks two night’s earlier and marked a resounding return of the Smoke Eaters power play.
Personnel tweaks to both man-power advantage units produced four power play goals against the Saints, including Jack Kennedy’s first ever BCHL goal on a snipe from the point on Trail’s first advantage of the game.
Christian Kim’s deflection of a pass from Kennedy early in the second period gave the Smokies a 2-0 lead and the two power play goals late in the third during a five-minute advantage put the game away.
Winger Evan Sundar assisted on three of those goals and leads the team with 17 points, one more than defenseman Lucas Lemieux.
Jason Stefanek still has a team-leading nine goals.
The Smokies find themselves in a tight three-way battle for first in the Interior West Division and second place in the Interior Conference. They are just two points back of both Salmon Arm and Penticton.
The Vipers are 5-8-3, but are coming off their biggest win of the season, last Saturday’s 6-1 shellacking of West Kelowna. Although that snapped a three-game slide, all were close games.
The Vipers fired 44 shots on goal in a 3-0 setback to Salmon Arm, fell 2-1 in overtime to Victoria and dropped a 5-4 overtime decision in Penticton, while outshooting the Vees 32-27, on a night they jumped out to a 3-0 first period lead.
Leading scorer Shea Busch got his ninth goal of the season in the whipping of West Kelowna.
The 17-year-old sophomore with size, has already surpassed last year’s goal total and leads the Vipers with 14 points through 16 games.
Rookie defenseman Cooper Cleaves is just one point back, including a team-leading 11 assists.
These teams haven’t played since opening night on September 20, when the Smokies were 5-3 victors over the Vipers.
Trail turned 1-0 and 2-1 deficits into a two goal lead after two periods with three unanswered goals in the middle frame, including a pair from Stefanek, who was the game’s first star. The deal wasn’t sealed until Jack Ziliotto’s empty net goal with just five seconds remaining.
Opening face-off from Kal Tire Place is set for 7 p.m. The game can be heard on Mixlr and watched on FloHockey.
