The Victoria Royals (25-16-3-1) faced the Kamloops Blazers (18-22-1-2) for a second night in a row Saturday, after defeating them 6-5 on Friday. For Victoria, the key to this game was to show the “killer instinct” while keeping the momentum and pressure up. For Kamloops, a key would be the continued traffic in front of Griffen Outhouse and shots on net. Victoria had a promotion Saturday of Country Night, resulting in a great atmosphere from the 6786 in attendance.
To start the game, Royals goalie Outhouse looked to be in quick form, making repeated big saves on an early Blazer powerplay. However, the red-hot Jermaine Loewen squeaked a powerplay goal between Outhouse and the post, putting Kamloops up 1-0 at 2:33. Kamloops continued the pressure, with a Joel Gatenby shot wired from the point past a screened Outhouse, putting the Blazers up 2-0 early. Kamloops was not done there, as Brodi Stuart was able to make a tip in traffic, making it 3-0 at 10:36.
The Royals were finally able to respond, when Dante Hannoun scored on a breakaway at 11:02 to make it 3-1. At 14:24 Tanner Kaspick, in his second game since being traded to the Royals, carried the puck into the Blazer zone, dangling and dekeing. He then fed Jeff de Wit for the short-handed tap past Kamloops’ Dylan Ferguson to make it 3-2. First period shots were 15-9 for the visitors.
In the second period, Royals’ forward de Wit continued to have a strong game. On a Victoria powerplay, he found a loose puck in the Kamloops’ crease and was able to roof it over a sprawling Ferguson to tie the game. At 7:20, de Wit was hauled down breaking to the net and awarded a penalty shot. Ferguson easily read the attempted deke, denying de Witt of a hat-trick.
The rest of the period saw the teams dig in, playing physical and at times it got heated. At the end of the second period the score was tied at 3-3, shots were 33-17 for Kamloops.
Kamloops pulled ahead again in the third with a short-handed goal at 5:29. Victoria could not setup on the powerplay, leading to a partial break by Luc Smith who put a short-handed shot past Outhouse to make it 4-3. Andrei Grishakov tied the game 4-4 at 8:19, snapping home a cross-ice feed from Igor Martynov.
Dylan Ferguson then made a huge save on a wide-open Tyler Soy at the side of the net. Flashing the leather, he snatched the puck out of mid-air. The arena goal-horn sounded as it looked like a goal, but the replay showed the great save and a cheer came up for the Vancouver Island born goalie.
The game-winning goal came at 16:29 as Hannoun was the recipient of an errant Blazers pass from behind the net. The Royals forward found the puck on his stick in the slot and he wired it to the top corner to make it 5-4. “I was positioned high in the slot.” said Hannoun of the winner, “The puck squirted out and all I thought was to get the puck to the net. I was lucky there.” Hannoun now has nine goals in seven games versus Kamloops this season.
The comeback for the Royals was the second Saturday in row that they climbed back from a 3-0 deficit against the Blazers. “It was great composure by our veteran group to get us back in it and feeling good again,” said head coach Dan Price “Then it was a long climb back but nobody quit and that’s what we are most proud of.”
Victoria swept the weekend games against Kamloops and now sit three points back of the Kelowna Rockets for tops in the BC Division. “We heard that from our leadership group that these were important points.” said Price, “We need to find a way to get this done and they dug deep.”
The Royals now head out on a three game road trip, facing the Portland Winterhawks on Wednesday Jan.17th. The Blazers return home to host the Lethbridge Hurricanes on Jan.16th.
Notes:
- The final whistle on Saturday saw tempers flare as Blazer forward Luke Zazula appeared to go after Matthew Phillips. Kade Jensen came in to defend his captain, and was assessed a major for cross-checking and an a game misconduct. A suspension is likely to follow.
- The Blazers did not trail in this game until the final 3:31 to play.
- Tyler Soy saw his 13 game point streak snapped after failing to register a point.
