If the Smoke Eaters could erase the opening 1:06 of the third period they might have been able to swing a victory on Wednesday night. The Smoke Eaters will have to look themselves in the mirror after dropping another game and going winless to start the year. They fell 5-2 to Powell River Wednesday at Cominco.
The Smokies came flying out of the gate to start the first in an effort that looked different from the previous 4 games, and through the opening ten minutes were all over the Kings. Powell River would regroup at the media time out as the play balanced out through the back half of the first with both goaltenders solid through 20 minutes.
The Kings would open the scoring however 6:37 in to the second as Moran would get a shot past Terness to give the Kings the lead through 40 minutes.
The Smoke Eaters then became their own worst enemies. In a game that was very win-able through 40 minutes and down only a goal a strong third period was in the cards. Unfortunately six seconds into the third McCoy would throw the puck at the net and beat Terness on a misplay from the young goalie that he will want to quickly forget. The Kings saw the opportunity for more and after Terness gave up an uncharacteristic rebound the Kings pounced again making it 3-0 just 1:06 into the third and leading to a goalie change for the Smokies.
Tyler Ghirardosi would get one back however on the power play as he knocked down the shot from Kent Johnson after it came off the goalie to Ghirardosi who got his first of the year and the teams first power play goal as well. The Kings killed any dreams of a comeback with a fourth goal after a turnover by the Smokies defense lead to Buono on the doorstep beating Buskey just 3 mins after the Smoke Eaters had scored. The home side would create some late drama getting a shorthanded goal as Ghiradosi fed a perfect pass to Kieran O’Hearn on a 2-on-1 break to make it 4-2. However the Smoke Eaters got caught dreaming of a late comeback as off the draw the Kings killed the game off as Rowan Miller would finish off a 2-on-1 of his own making it 5-2 just eight seconds later.
The Smoke Eaters now head out on the road for a busy 3 game weekend. They’ll head to Interior Division rivals the Wenatchee Wild on Friday, then head up Hwy 97 on Saturday to visit the West Kelowna Warriors before tracking back to Trail to host the Victoria Grizzlies. It’s a 3 game weekend the Smoke Eaters very much need to go their way as they look to get their season back on track after and early bump in the road.
Catch the game on Friday with Ben Phillips on Hockey TV and Mixlr starting at 6:55, with puck drop schedule for 7:05 in Wenatchee.
