After a dismal start in their best-of-seven division final series against Victoria Grizzlies, Powell River Kings got untracked in game three at Hap Parker Arena.
They lost game one 4-1 and game two 5-0 on the road in Victoria but rebounded with a much better effort to win 4-2 on Monday night.
As a statistical comparison of the difference, aside from the losses, Kings had close to the same number of shots—38 in game three—as they did in both of the first two games.
On Monday night Kurt Keats, as he usually does, got the Kings off on the right foot with a ton of hustle and unbelievable solo effort.
With the rest of the Kings coming over the boards on a line change Keats worked the puck down low before he broke free to let a shot go that beat goalie Nic Renyard at 0:48.
The early goal held up through the first period and into the second until Matt Scarth took a bad angle shot at 8:57 on Renyard that squeaked in on the short side.
Kings looked very strong in five-on-five situations but got into penalty trouble late in the period and the second consecutive one cost them when Leo Fitzgerald scored on the powerplay at 19:33.
Myles Fitzgerald evened the score at 10:12 of the final period to make things exciting for a while but Ryan Scarfo’s goal at 15:57, a low wrister inside the far post, made it 3-2.
Jonah Imoo and the Kings were solid from there and everyone breathed a little easier when Brian Rideout scored on an empty net at 19:39.
The win almost erased the memory of the two losses in Victoria of which Kent Lewis, coach and general manager, said, “We had good starts in games one and two but, my God, the rest of it was just awful. I like our group of kids and everything happens for a reason, but there’s only one way to get out of it and that’s with hard work.”
Which is what they did in Powell River in game three. “The only thing that kept them in was their powerplay and penalties that shouldn’t be penalties,” Lewis said.
There were a couple of moves in the roster but a key one was the start of Imoo who relieved Jeff Smith late in the two Victoria games.
“I’ve talked about it all year and I’m a man who’s consistent with his word,” said Lewis. “If you’ve got the ball, you’ve got the ball. Jeff lost the ball and Jonah was steady tonight.”
Imoo hadn’t made a start of late but did see a couple of periods in the last two games.
“I haven’t made a start in a while because Smitty’s been playing awesome,” said Imoo, “but I always had a good attitude and stepped in in the last two games. You just have to always stay ready because you never know what’s going to happen.”
Of the two Kings losses to start the series he said, “The mood is the same as it would be for any other team that lost two in a row. Obviously, it’s a brutal feeling, especially in the playoffs, but through the year we’ve had lots of bounce backs playing at home and we definitely showed that tonight.”
Game four was played at Hap Parker Arena on Tuesday with game five on Thursday, March 20 in Victoria.
If the Kings can extend the series with one more win, game six goes at 7:30 pm on Friday, March 21 at home and game seven if necessary in Victoria on Saturday, March 22.
