Just when fans thought Powell River Kings had exhausted ways to lose games, they came up with another in the shape of a 6-5 overtime loss to Salmon Arm Silverbacks on Friday night.
Go all the way back to September 14, 2012, in Victoria where the Kings and Grizzlies were tied 2-2 in the third period. The Grizzlies scored with just one second to go to win 3-2.
What was thought to be a bad break turned out to be the real hand dealt to Kings’ faithful this year as the team has consistently fallen short.
Added to the frustration is the glimpse of brilliance that the fans get when the Kings execute a game plan and seemingly dominate even their strongest opponents.
This was the case on Friday when the Silverbacks came to play in the most dire of situations.
Kings wrapped up a playoff spot weeks ago thanks to the hapless Cowichan Valley Capitals, but Salmon Arm had to win in a battle for fourth place with Trail Smoke Eaters in the interior.
Salmon Arm got a gift goal early at 3:54 on a long shot that bounced off Jonah Imoo’s catcher and into the net but the Kings answered immediately.
Landon Robin and Matt Dupont scored a couple of quick goals at 4:10 and 5:42 and, much to the delight of 1,063 fans, took the lead 2-1.
Silverbacks tied it 2-2 at 7:14 but the Kings’ powerplay clicked for a couple more goals before the end of the period.
Stephen Hiff got the first one at 16:43 on a beautiful tic-tac-toe passing play and Matt Scarth got the next goal when he tipped Jordan Benton’s point shot in at 19:39.
Up 4-2 at the break, Kings poured it on with their third powerplay goal in as many chances when JP Villeneuve snapped a shot into the top corner at 9:19 of the second period.
At this point many of the casual fans and possibly even the Kings relaxed with the comfortable 5-2 lead, but the late goal at 19:58 should have set off the alarm bells.
Kings had no answer for the hungry Silverbacks as they were outshot 11-3 in the final period and surrendered two goals to the visitors.
Thankfully, there is no four-on-four overtime in the playoffs as the Kings are tied for the lead in overtime losses with nine.
Fans grumbled out of Hap Parker Arena after the Silverbacks scored the winner at 2:25 on a deflection.
Losing is one thing but underachievement is incredibly frustrating for the Kings.
“Bottom line is, [with] the 5-3 goal, I knew we were in trouble,” said coach and general manager Kent Lewis. “You know what I’m about, you know how we practice, you know how we prepare, but until there’s a total buy-in we’re going to have these results.”
Lack of consistency has driven coaches mad this season and Lewis continues to grapple with this problem.
“There were times there when I thought we were turning the corner, had some nice goals and dominated them in a lot of areas,” he said. “But we faced a desperate club in the third and our club didn’t play desperate. I’ll sum it up by saying one thing. This year’s team doesn’t play to win enough; it just plays to play too much. My teams in the past played to win.”
Kings play the last game on the schedule on Friday, March 8 in Duncan against Cowichan Valley Capitals.
Kings Scroll:
A moment of silence was observed before the game for the passing of King’s volunteer and society member Don Smisko. Don was also a fixture in the timekeeper’s box and the three blasts of the buzzer were a tribute to his contribution to hockey in Powell River.
