The Smoke Eaters road warrior show continued Friday night in Spruce Grove.
Trail tallied three of their five unanswered goals in the third period to record a 7-4 stunning of the Saints in their beautiful newly opened Thompson Family Arena.
After 6’4″ Smokies Swede, Louis Jonerheim buried his first BCHL goal, the Saints struck three times to slide into a 3-1 lead after 20 minutes, with a breakaway stop off of Trail’s Cash Carter sandwiched in between.
Rookie defenseman Gairin Michalski’s strong two-point performance included his second goal of the season early in the second period.
He sniped a short-side snapshot into the top corner from the right wing boards to reduce the deficit to one.
After falling behind 4-2, George Stavrianeas stole the puck while Dylan Lariviere was battling two Saints defenders along the boards, swooped in on a sharp angle and hit the opposite top corner midway through the middle frame.
Christian Kim tied the game minutes after being denied on a point blank attempt.
The 20-year-old Californian connected with two minutes remaining in the second stanza after getting in behind the Saints defense, and shoving the puck under Spruce Grove goalie Joseph Quintilio following a determined dangle.
The Smoke Eaters’ speedy transition game highlighted the final 40 minutes and resulted in the game winner just 36-seconds into the third period.
Carter Matthews led a tidy two-on-one rush, faked a shot and fed Zach Coutu who hit a wide open net.
Matthews also helped set up both final frame power play goals.
Cash Carter collected his first goal of the season scoring the insurance marker from in close just past the three minute mark, while Coutu’s one-time slapper from the right wing circle sealed the deal with just over four minutes remaining.
Coutu added an assist and sits second in the BCHL points race with nine, one point ahead of linemate Erik Pastro.
Trail would tally on three of their four third period shots.
Goalie Cooper Michaluk saved his best work for the third period. His 12 stops included a sensational save on a Brandon Funk breakaway, not to be outdone by a cross-crease, net-wide scramble on a back-door shot late in the contest.
The Saints outshot the Smokies 31-21, with Trail going 2-for-6 on the power play and 2-for-3 on the penalty kill.
The unbeaten Smokies take a 5-0 record into Brooks for a Saturday night showdown against the defending BCHL champion.
The Bandits raised their record to 3-2 with a 10-2 Friday night blasting of the Cranbrook Bucks as Francois Devilliers picked up a hat trick.
Opening face-off is at 6 p.m. (Pacific), with all the action on Mixlr and FloHockey.
