Kamloops performed an exorcism of sorts on Friday evening by snapping a 10-game losing streak to the Everett Silvertips. The Silvertips, who hadn’t lost to the Blazers since January 31st, 2017, outscored the Blazers by a margin of 44-13 during that stretch.
Everett jumped out to an early lead with Brendan Lee’s third goal of the season just 3:28 into the game, but that was the first and only time Dylan Garand was beaten on the evening. Inaki Baragano received a pass from Ryan Hughes in the second period and snuck his first goal in the WHL past Dustin Wolf to tie things up for the Blazers.
Following the announcement of associate coach Darryl Sydor’s personal leave of absence from the team, Blazers director of hockey operations Tim O’Donovan supervised the defence from the bench. Coincidence or not, Baragano’s tally was followed up by Quinn Schmiemann’s first goal of the season from the blue line, eventually holding up as the game-winner.
Connor Zary then iced the game with an empty-net goal, extending his point streak to 13 games in the process. A brief round of the game’s highlights can be found here.
After defeating the Silvertips 3-1, the Blazers then went north to face the Kelowna Rockets on Saturday evening. The Blazers opened the scoring for the fourth time this season courtesy of Martin Lang’s shot that found daylight above Roman Basran’s left shoulder.
After back-to-back tallies from Liam Kindree and Connor Zary early in the second, Jake Poole’s first career goal in the WHL tied the game at two for Kelowna.
Kamloops’ top line went back to work in the third period with Zary and Orrin Centazzo connecting for a goal just over four minutes in. Recently-acquired Max Martin rang a shot off the post in the second period on the power play, but the 20-year-old defenceman wouldn’t be denied.
Martin hammered home a one-timer seven seconds into the Blazers’ sixth power play, then put the icing on the cake with an empty-net goal from his own zone. After going scoreless in his first four games with the Prince Albert Raiders, Martin now has four points in his first three games as a Blazer. All seven goals and a little bit more can be found right here.
Game Notes
Friday night’s victory in Everett was the second 10-game losing streak the Blazers have snapped this season after defeating the Vancouver Giants on September 28th.
The Blazers extended their winning streak against Kelowna to eight consecutive games on Saturday night.
Dylan Garand stopped 59-of-62 shots in the two games, accumulating a .951 save percentage on the weekend. The sophomore goaltender was chosen as the game’s first star in Everett and second star in Kelowna.
Connor Zary’s two points on the evening extended his point streak to 14 regular-season games. Dating back to March 9th, the left-winger has 23 points in that stretch.
The Blazers’ power play went 2-for-11 on the weekend and now stands at 8th overall in the league. Kamloops also killed 11-of-12 penalties, boosting their PK to 3rd overall in the league.
Luke Zazula and Kyrell Sopotyk missed both weekend games. Zazula has not played since sustaining an injury in the season opener, while Sopotyk left the ice early during the first matchup between Kamloops and Everett on October 5th.
What’s on tap:
The Blazers return to the Sandman Centre on Tuesday, October 15th, when the Swift Current Broncos make their lone trip to Kamloops on the season.
