In a mid week tilt against the Wenatchee Wild, the Smoke Eaters took care of business on home ice as they down the Wild 5-1 on Wednesday night.
In a first period the Wild came out and outshot the Smoke Eaters 15-8 but were dead locked at one after 20mins. Smokies captain Philippe Lapointe opened the scoring as Tyler Ghirardosi and Owen Ozar dug the puck free behind the in the right corner. Ghirardosi threw the puck out front for a wide open Lapointe who went blocker side on the Wild netminder to open the scoring. The Wild would get their answer after Harrison Scott redirected a shot from the point past Logan Terness for send things tied at one to the 1st intermission.
The Smoke Eaters sppecial teams would be the difference the rest on the way. Ozar would score on the power play with 6 minutes left in the second after a mad scramble around the Wilds net. Kent Johnson would add to his league leading 14th goal with an absolute rocket from the left circle on the power play just a few minutes later. Mike Colella and Diarmad DiMurro would get assists on both goals on the power play for the Smokies that would go 3/6 on the night.
In the third, Lapointe got his third goal of the season and second of the night as the knocked down a pass from Ghiradosi to break in and go glove side on Noah Altman. DiMurro would get the Smokies third power play goal as the Smoke Eaters found themselves on a abbreviated 5-on-3 with 9 minutes to go. Again great puck movement from Ozar and Lapointe who found Dimurro alone at the point, who made no mistake going glove side on Altman.
Logan Terness was fantastic again stopping 35/36 shots and was key on the Smokies penalty kill that went 7/7 against the first ranked Wenatchee power play.
The Smokies now hit the road for a tough weekend set against the Salmon Arm Silverbacks starting Friday night at 7pm. Friday’s game is the HockeyTV FREE game of the week so don’t miss this opportunity to watch the Smoke Eaters take on the Silverbacks.
