It was back and forth and came right down to the final seconds, as it should have as the Smoke Eaters top the Vees in a 4-3 thriller Friday night at Cominco.
The Smoke Eaters got caught on their heels to open the game with the Vees looking to open the game strong but Logan Terness, as he did most of the night, shut the Vees out. The teams stayed scoreless through first with the deadlock finally being broken by Braden Costello at 3:26 of the second period. Max Kryski found the puck behind the net, gave it to Carson Briere who found Costello alone in the slot for the first goal. The Smoke Eaters added a second just 42 seconds later Kent Johnson took a pass from Owen Ozar on the right side and out waited Yaniv Perets to tuck one inside the net making it 2-0. The Smoke Eates almost made it 3-0 moments later but the Vees answered back at 6:55 with their first of the night. Jack Barnes collected a bouncing puck in the neutral zone and gave it of to Vees captain David Silye who’s shot from the right circle beat Terness to give the Vees life. Dannny Weight would get his own rebound on a shot from the point at 15:22 to make it a 2-2 game going to the third period.
In the third it was Costello again who made the difference early as Senkoe gave him a perfect no look, between the legs, back hand pass out front to make it 3-2 Smoke Eaters early in the third. The Vees would push but couldn’t find their equalizer. They pulled their goalie with 2:32 left in the third looking for that tying goal but Johnson made them pay with his second of the night with more than two minutes left. The Vees would get one with 1:03 left from Liam Malmquist but couldn’t muster anything in the final minute to tie the game. Despite putting 46 shots on net the Vees fell 4-3 and had their win streak snapped by the Smoke Eaters who extended theirs to 5 games. Terness was named the Fortis Energy Player of the Game while Johnson was the second star and Costello the first.
The Smokies got the job done in the first half of the the home and home series picking up a massive two points in their pursuit of the Vees, a result that they’ll look to build off Saturday night in Pentcton for part two of the weekend set. Game time is 6pm from the SOEC in Penticton in whats bound to be another high flying game.
