It was a similar story again on Friday night. The Smoke Eaters created enough chances and probably should have gotten more out of the game than they did, But Owen Say was tough to beat in the Salmon Arm while the Silverbacks capitalized on their chances to win 8-2 over the Smoke Eaters.
The Smoke Eaters opened the scoring in this game and carried most of the play for the opening period. They were outshot by the Silverbacks however 14-12 and went to the first intermission tied at 1. It was a positive start to the game that helped lead to Connor Michaud’s opener on a breakaway just three minutes into the first, as the Smoke Eaters took advantage of an aggressive rush up the ice from Salmon Arm who committed to many guys forward, leading to the odd man rush in favour of the Smoke Eaters.
The Silverbacks would respond on the powerplay to tie the game up five minutes later and Daniel Penetta tipped a puck past Mason Dunford in tight to make it 1-1.
In the second, again the Smoke Eaters deserved a goal or two but just couldn’t find the net behind Owen Say. The Silverbacks netminder was under siege in the opening moments of the second period but refused to be beat. The Smoke Eaters outshot the Backs 22-11 in the second period but after a few errors the Smoke Eaters found themselves down by three as the Silverbacks got goals from Zack Smith, Tucker Hartman and Mat Bourgault to put the Smoke Eaters down 4-1 heading to the third period.
The Silverbacks didn’t stop there as they came out in the third looking to put the game out of reach early. The Silverbacks scored twice on the first ten minutes of the third to extend their lead to five. Again this was all while the Smoke Eaters were awarded a penalty shot and denied by Say, who would stop another 15 Smoke Eater shots on his way to a 48 save performance. The Smoke Eaters got one back as AP Rhett Hamilton who was up from the Nelson Leafs of the KIJHL scored his first BCHL goal in his first game.
The Silverbacks would add two more to make it 8-2. Despite outshooting the Silverbacks 50-39 the Smoke Eaters drop their second straight game by the score of 8-2. They’ll look for a bounce back on Saturday night as the Penticton Vees come to town.
