The Trail Smoke Eaters continue their three game weekend with a stop in Nanaimo, as they take on the Island leading Nanaimo Clippers
Regular season series vs Nanaimo
October 18th @ Trail Memorial Centre 4-1W (BOXSCORE)
November 16th @ Frank Crane Arena 7pm
It was less than a month ago that the Smoke Eaters (17-6-2-1) beat the Clippers (17-6-1-1) for their franchise setting 9th consecutive win back on October 18th. That night both teams came in with a lengthy win streak as the Clippers were riding a 7 game streak. Tonight the script is much the same as these two teams are on hot streaks. For the Smokies their coming off a 6-2 win Friday night in Powell River as they extended their point streak to nine games going 8-0-0-1. It was a team effort and goals from throughout the line, including 3 from defenceman that saw the Smoke Eaters prevail on Friday night. They’ll look for more of that tonight in Nanaimo with the Clippers leading the island division.
The Smoke Eaters power play will be in tough as the Clippers lead the league with the best penalty kill at 92%. But like last night and last weekend against Vernon the Smoke Eaters have proved they can score 5-on-5. Now with 100 goals scored on the season through 26 games played, Trail is averaging 3.84 goals a game, a league high. Its also the Smoke Eaters road record (10-2-1-1) against the Clippers home record (10-3-1). They’ll be in tough though against the two of the best goaltenders in the league, statistically speaking, in Jordan Naylor and Zach Bennett. The Smoke Eaters put 3 past Bennett a month a go, but he played last night in Victoria meaning the Smoke Eaters are likely to see Naylor tonight.
Smoke Eaters leading scorers:
Johnson (20-29-49)
Colella (13-24-37)
Ozar (12-21-33)
DiMurro (5-17-22)
Ghirardosi (9-12-21)
The Clippers host the Smoke Eaters in the midst of another win streak that sits at 7 games. Since the Clippers made the trip to Trail they are 8-2-1. Both Naylor and Bennett have played a big part in that as the Clippers netminders have split the games with 12 games played each. Both goaltenders also have great numbers with Naylor leading the way with a 1.72 GAA and 0.945 SV%. The Clippers are coming off a gutsy win over the Victoria Grizzlies on Friday night where Sean Donaldson scored a breakaway goal with less than 10 minutes to go in the third, leading to a 1-0 victory for the Clippers. The win was the Clippers fourth shutout win over their last eight games. Whoever is leading after the first period will also signal who the game might go as the Clippers are 8-0-0-1 when leading after the first, meanwhile the Smoke Eaters are 12-0.
Don’t miss tonight’s action as the Smoke Eaters look to cut the Clippers win streak again and extend their own. Puck drop is at 7pm with the pre game show with Ben Phillips starting at 6:50 on HockeyTV or Mixlr from Frank Crane Arena.
