Powell River Kings’ latest road trip began in Penticton on Friday, January 11, one day removed from the BC Hockey League trade deadline. Kings stood firm following roster additions of defender Kyle Pow and forward Nolan Krogfoss prior to last week’s games.
Powell River rebounded from an early Penticton goal to tie the game at two through 20 minutes with goals from Ryan Brushett and Levi Glasman. A second period tally from Ethan Schmunk tied the game again, this time at three. However, Penticton scored once more in the second and early into the final frame for a 5-3 win.
Former Kings affiliate goaltender Derek Krall picked up the win in net, stopping 20 Powell River shots.
Penticton went three for eight on the powerplay, with Powell River matching a season high for powerplays given up. It was also just the third time this season the Kings gave up three or more powerplay goals.
“If I’m a betting man, we probably out chanced them, we played them well straight up but the penalty kill really took a hit early in the game and we weren’t able to regroup,” said Kings assistant coach Brock Sawyer.
The following evening, Powell River ventured to Salmon Arm to close a season series against the Silverbacks, a team that earned a 3-2 win at Hap Parker Arena last month.
Kings found themselves down 2-0 through 20 minutes with former defender Andy Stevens registering a pair of assists for the home team.
Ryan Pouliot scored in the second period, then Mitch Williams tallied his 12th of the season to tie the game with 2:30 remaining in the third. Salmon Arm went ahead with 70 seconds remaining before Brushett became the first player this season to score 30 goals, tying the game with 27 seconds remaining.
Overtime settled nothing, and Kings headed to their second shootout of the season.
Powell River fell behind 1-0 early as Williams and Christian Buono missed their chances. Brushett was clutch again, scoring in the third round, while Mitch Adamyk stopped Salmon Arm’s third shooter to send the shootout to sudden death.
Glasman gave Powell River the advantage with a fourth-round goal and Adamyk closed out the win with a sprawling save to lift Powell River back to the win column, 4-3 in the shootout.
“All I try and do is to make them make the first move and then the goal is to just take away their time and space and not let them do much with it,” said Adamyk about his shootout strategy. “There’s not much going on in my head [when facing a shot], just trying to read the situation and get a job done.”
Powell River visited Vernon on Sunday, January 14, to close out another season series. Kings had defeated the Vipers 3-2 in a shootout in October at home.
It was a rough game from start to finish for the Kings, who fell behind 4-0 before Matthew Byrne notched his first goal as a King and second of the season. Williams scored in the third period but Kings fell 5-2, finishing the road trip with one win and two losses.
“We weren’t ready to play. From the first shift we were losing battles, turning pucks over in our own end, not collapsing to the net; we were lazy and not moving feet and all of a sudden it’s 2-0,” said Sawyer. “Not what we wanted today, our effort just wasn’t there. We were bland, not skating and no excuse for a game like that.”
Kings sit five points back of division-leading Victoria Grizzlies, who visit Powell River for a pair of games on Friday, January 18 (7 pm), and Saturday, January 19 (5 pm).
Kings visit Alberni Valley for a game on Sunday afternoon to close out the weekend.
