After a hard fought and gritty battle Friday night in Duncan, the Smoke Eaters continue their Thanksgiving road trip with a match up in Victoria against the Grizzlies looking for their seventh straight win
Regular Season vs Victoria
September 22nd @ Cominco Arena 6-2 W (BOXSCORE)
October 12th @ The Q Centre 7pm
Season series: 1W-0L
The Smoke Eaters who trailed by two at two different points of the game battled back, forced OT and later won it in the shootout thanks to goals from Kent Johnson and Max Kryski to extend the win streak to seven.
The Smoke Eaters will look to continue their win streak tonigh against a Victoria team they saw just three weeks ago on their first home win of the year on September 22nd. That game was the second of their current win streak where they took it to the Grizzlies scoring three goals in the opening five minutes en-route to a 6-2 win. The Smoke Eaters continue their three game weekend against the Grizzlies who have lost six of their last seven games. The Smokies continue to get big performances from their top 4 guys as again Johnson and Colella had four points each while Ozar and DiMurro had a pair of points as well. Ozar’s point streak has reached seven games while Johnson, Colella and DiMurro are sporting 6 game point streaks.
For the Grizzlies, things have not gone according to plan to start the year as they continue to struggle to replace Newhook and their other star players from last year. They lost 5-3 to Alberni Valley last night on the road. They come in with a 1W-3L record on home ice.
The Grizzlies hold the 7th best penalty kill in the league at 84 percent. A penalty kill that will need to be at its best to stop the Smoke Eaters who are running at 36% (11/30) on the powerplay over their last six games. They’ll also need goaltending as the Smokies chased Blake Wood from the net after scoring four on eight shots in the first period in their last meeting.
The Smoke Eaters who are finding the net with joy now have 20 goals in their last 3 games and 34 over the last six games.
Puck drop is at 7pm from The Q Centre in Victoria. The game can be caught on HockeyTV and Mixlr with Ben Phillips AND special guest, Smoke Eaters captain Philippe Lapointe doing colour commentary.
Things get started at 6:50 with coaches comments. Don’t miss it as the Smokies look to make it seven in a row and take the season series against the Grizzlies tonight in Victoria.
