Vernon, B.C. — The Salmon Arm Silverbacks picked up a 5-2 win over the Vernon Vipers on Saturday night at Kal Tire Place in their first game following a 13-day lay-off for the winter holidays.
Their record now stands at 21-14-2, good for third place in the Interior Division.
GAME SUMMARY
It took all of just 23 seconds for the Silverbacks to open the scoring, thanks to Lucas Breault being in the right place at the right time. Defenceman Zach Gabruch held in a puck from the left point by firing a wrist shot to the net and the rebound off Reilly Herbst was knocked in by Breault for his fifth goal in six games.
The Vipers quickly pushed back and controlled the play for the next several minutes, getting rewarded at the 7:46 mark of the first period on a Ben Helgeson’s seventh goal of the season.
Backs netminder Ethan Langenegger made some key stops on the Vipers first power play opportunity to keep the score knotted at one after 20 minutes.
Vipers defenceman Landon Fuller was called for high-sticking 7:01 into the second period and the Silverbacks capitalized 47 seconds into their second power play of the game. Forward Noah Wakeford walked out from the goal line after getting a pass from Akito Hirose a buried one top shelf for his 15th goal of the season.
Salmon Arm would double their lead with under six minutes to go in the second period after Wakeford fed a perfect pass out front for Daniel Rybarik, who kept his stick on the ice and tapped one home for his team-leading 19th goal of the year.
After 40 minutes of play, the Backs had a 3-1 advantage, while the Vipers had the edge in shots on goal 23-20.
Although the Vipers cut into the lead just 31 seconds into the third period, Salmon Arm responded almost right away. This time, Hirose fed a marvellous cross-ice pass on a power play to Breault, who tallied his second goal of the evening to make the score 4-2 just 2:28 into the third.
Less than two minutes later, Silverbacks rookie Coalson Wolford was the first one to a loose puck at the side of the goal and went between his legs for a highlight reel goal that made it 5-2.
After that, the Silverbacks shut things down completely, holding the Vipers to four shots in the final 15 minutes of the contest.
STANDOUT PERFORMANCES
Lucas Breault, Salmon Arm Silverbacks: Breault had an even-strength goal and a power play goal in this one, giving him six goals and eight points in six games.
Akito Hirose, Salmon Arm Silverbacks: Hirose is starting to heat up again, now with two goals and four assists for six points during a three-game point streak. He’s now got 39 points on the season in 37 games.
Noah Wakeford, Salmon Arm Silverbacks: Wakeford now has six points during a three-game point streak and has nearly doubled his goal total from last season, now with 15 after recording eight in 41 games last season.
Coalson Wolford, Salmon Arm Silverbacks: Wolford’s between the legs goal was a thing of beauty, but he also continued to out-work the opposition on nearly every shift.
Silverbacks skills coach Carter Cochrane on Wolford: “He’s a guy who’s involved in every game, one way or another…He’s a guy who does it all for us. He’s someone who we really think could be a big breakout candidate for us in the second half.”
For the full boxscore, click here.
STAT OF THE GAME
PP 2-for-5: The Backs scored two power play goals in a game for the first time since Nov. 15. Cochrane on the PP:
“For our power play to contribute like that was huge…[Breault] and [Hirose] were making a lot of great passes but I think it starts with Hunter Sansbury having that shot-first mentality from the point. His shot is such a threat and when he gets those guys to collapse in the middle, scared of his shot, it just opens up so many seams for those guys. We worked low plays too. I think you saw a lot of versatility from our power play. We weren’t really coming at them with the same thing every time and I think that’s where we were able to get some success.”
WHAT’S NEXT
The Silverbacks now get to host the Vipers in the back half of the home-and-home, with puck drop scheduled for 3 p.m. on Sunday. It is the first of six straight home games for the Backs between Dec. 29 and Jan. 15.
All games can be heard on 91.5 EZ Rock with the pre-game show starting half an hour before puck drop. Fans can also stream the games on HockeyTV.
