With three games against divisional rivals, including a pair against Cowichan Valley Capitals, the stage was set for Powell River Kings to assert themselves against potential playoff opponents, or stumble, and set up a dramatic end to the regular season. By Monday night, Kings had put the rest of the division on notice by playing some of their best hockey of the season.
The weekend opened on Friday with the first leg of a doubleheader against Cowichan Valley at Hap Parker Arena, a team hoping to narrow the gap and battle Powell River for home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
After a tentative first period ended scoreless, Kings jumped out to a 2-0 lead, courtesy of goals from Carter Turnbull and Jeremy LeClerc. The scoring continued in the third with Austin Kamer and Rylan Ball scoring 53 seconds apart for a 4-0 lead.
Powell River goaltender Jeff Smith did the rest, turning aside all 21 Cowichan shots for his third shutout of the season, in guiding Kings to a 4-0 win.
“I was tested early in the first period, but we came out in the second and third, worked them down low, created chances and buried them,” said Smith. “It was a complete team effort tonight. Anytime you keep it under 24 shots is a good game and the guys in front made it pretty easy on me.”
The eighth and final meeting of the season series between Powell River and Cowichan took place on Saturday evening.
Kings took advantage of an early, lucky bounce off a linesman’s skate, which led to a rush down the ice and Tristan Mullin’s team-leading 27th goal of the season. Kings continued to pour on the pressure, scoring three goals in 1:27 with Jonny Evans, Kyle Betts and Liam Lawson all connecting for a commanding 4-0 lead after the first period.
Turnbull added one more in the second period, while Ball and Betts rounded out the scoring in the third for a 7-0 shutout. Smith stopped 25 shots, earning the Kings consecutive shutouts.
“Anytime you can come out and score an early goal in the first period, it’s great for the team and you get your feet going,” said Betts. “Everybody was going, we have four lines going right now, we were really fired up this weekend and it showed out there.”
The wins tightened Powell River’s grip on second place in Island Division standings and home-ice advantage for at least the first round of the playoffs.
“We skated, that’s been the biggest thing for us since the Christmas break,” said Kings head coach Kent Lewis. “We’ve been hungry on the puck and good things happen when you work hard. If you don’t give easy things up, you keep shots down and it helps generate offence.”
The weekend was not yet complete, as Powell River hosted Victoria on Family Day.
More than 1,200 fans attended the free game and witnessed the Kings rebound after a sluggish opening three minutes to score twice in 1:06. First, Betts completed a two-on-one rush with Mullin. Then, after countless chances and 56 home games, Hunter Findlater scored his fourth of the season for a 2-0 lead. Victoria added a power-play goal before the period was out.
“We were at centre, going for a regroup on the power play and Brubacher got the puck; I think he missed the net just to give me that chance and I got it home,” said Findlater on his first goal in Powell River. “It’s nice to come full circle, I’ve had a lot of chances, starting in the playoffs against Victoria a couple of seasons ago, so it’s a good goal to get.”
In the second period, Adam Brubacher had a friendly deflection go in off a Victoria stick for a 3-1 lead and Evans added an empty-net goal in the third to round out a near-perfect weekend with a 4-1 win. Smith stopped 29 Victoria shots and finished the weekend with a 3-0 record, a 0.33 GAA and a .987 save percentage.
There were a lot of positives to point to after a 3-0 weekend against tough opposition.
“Guys were hungry and wanted to win today, it was a good overall team effort,” added Kings assistant coach Brock Sawyer. “We scored a lot off the rush this weekend. Over the course of the year we stress as a coaching staff to get pucks to the net and, with our speed, you never know what’s going to happen.”
Powell River has clinched a playoff spot for the 15th consecutive season and closed the gap to five points on first-place Nanaimo, while extending their lead on Cowichan Valley to 11.
King complete the home portion of regular season play with games against Chilliwack on Friday, February 12, and Salmon Arm on Sunday, February 14.
