The streaking Smokies strike again!
The Trail troupe increased its overall winning streak to five and have now won a team record nine straight road games following a thrilling 3-2 overtime victory in West Kelowna.
That’s the good news. The bad news is starting goaltender Cooper Michaluk is out indefinitely with a lower body injury suffered in the dying seconds of the second period.
The 20-year-old was unable to put any weight on his left leg while being helped off the ice after doing the cross-crease splits to fend off a Warriors attack across the front of the net.
Michaluk was magical in his close to 40-minutes of work, including a series of four stops in the second period, capped off by a super stretch to steal a tap in goal from Warrior winger Kurtis Kinoshita.
Trail product Chayse Johnson stopped all 12 shots he faced to pick up his second win of the season.
Earlier, Smokies Athletic Therapist Emily Michalchuk attended to centreman Erik Pastro, who accidentally collided with line mate Otto Hanson. Pastro missed some time but came back in the third period wearing a full cage on his helmet.
Moments after the Michaluk injury, Michalchuk had to sprint off the bench after defenseman Mattias Pape was hit heavily from behind while freezing the puck along the corner boards and was on the ice for a couple of minutes. Pape played the third period.
The entire defense corps led by shot-blocking machine and team captain, Issac Fecteau, battled furiously all game against a persistent and potent Warrior attack.
Massive Max Hense’s hellacious hit in the second period was among the defensive highlights.
Newcomers Brady Wassink, playing his second game and fellow 19-year-old Colton Whitfield, who made his Smoke Eaters debut, were also impressive.
Cash Carter opened the scoring about five minutes into the first period with his second five-hole breakaway goal in two nights after being set up by a sweet feed from Zach Coutu.
Rookie Caden Stoltz scored his second goal of the season early in the second period, after starting the play with a monster hit in the right-wing corner and converted a perfect net-front pass from Mathis Valente.
The Warriors potted a pair of power play goals in the late stages of the first and second periods.
A scoreless third period set the stage for Otto Hanson’s overtime tally.
The 19-year-old sniped his first goal as a Smoke Eater in just his second game, with a resounding wrist shot into the top glove-side corner on Warriors goalie Angelo Zol at 3:45 of the tie-breaking session.
Michaluk and Johnson combined to make 35 saves, many while Trail was killing off four additional penalties. The Smokies were 0-for-2 on the power play.
The win avenges Trail’s lone loss of the season to West Kelowna in the Smokies’ home opener and vaults them two points ahead of the Warriors in the fights for first place in the Interior West Division and overall BCHL standings.
The Smokies take an 11-and-1 record into Wednesday’s home game against the Salmon Arm Silverbacks.
Tickets are available in the Smokies Store or online at Tickets.TrailSmokeEaters.com.
