It was a great run.
Keifer Miller found the loose puck after Cole Cooksey was denied the front of the net on a solid hit and broke a scoreless tie 11-and-a-half minutes into the third period.
The goal stood up as the winner in a 2-0 Salmon Arm win at Cominco Arena ending the Smoke Eaters franchise record winning streak at 14 games.
Jason Stefanek’s consecutive game point streak also ended at 14, while line mate Christian Kim’s streak of goals in eight straight games, as well as points in 12 in a row were also halted.
Both teams played tight defense and the officials let them bend the rules as each team had only one unsuccessful power play.
The highlight was the goaltending duel between Trail’s Ryan Parker and Andrew Ballantyne of the Silverbacks.
Parker carried the momentum of Friday’s 49-save soliloquy into the Saturday night showdown, while Ballantyne was equally proficient and made the save of the night in the second period after Cade De St. Hubert set up Ridge Dawson on a cross-crease pass.
The crowd of 1,770 erupted in the second period when Trail’s Zach Coutu took exception to a hit on Kim and duked it out with Salmon Arm’s Tanner Walos at centre-ice.
Cooksey put the game away with an empty net goal in the final minute after a Silverback backchecker put a grab on defenseman Lucas Lemieux while trying to lead a rush out of Smoke Eaters territory.
The Smokies may have been feeling the effects of a hard fought and emotional late overtime victory the night before in Penticton along with their arrival back in Trail at 2:30 a.m. while the Silverbacks travelled to the Kootenays on Friday as they had the night off and hadn’t played since the Saturday before.
Salmon Arm outshot Trail 28-26.
Trail is now three points behind conference-leading Penticton who recorded a 5-2 victory in Vernon and are one point ahead of Brooks who pulled out a last minute overtime win over the Oilers in Okotoks despite being outshot 8-3 in the extra period and 45-39 overall.
The Smokies hit the road this weekend for games Friday in Spruce Grove and Saturday in Sherwood Park.
