Salmon Arm, B.C. — Two power play goals, two even-strength goals and an Ethan Langenegger shutout led the Salmon Arm Silverbacks to a 4-0 victory over the Victoria Grizzlies in game two of their opening round playoff series on Saturday night.
The Backs now lead the best-of-7 series 2-0, after a 2-1 victory on Friday.
GAME SUMMARY
Just like Friday, Saturday’s game had plenty of chances to start, but this time Victoria was right there with the Silverbacks, going chance for chance in the opening 20.
And just like Friday, both goaltenders — Langenegger and Liam Souliere — were on their game, matching one another save for save.
After 20 minutes, there was no score and the shots were close at 13-10 for the Silverbacks.
Things changed in a big way in period number two, with Salmon Arm taking control of the game. They struck first just under seven minutes into the period after Luke Mylymok started from his own zone and went all the way down the left wing side before firing a shot past Liam Souliere for his second goal of the series.
The Silverbacks kept up the pressure and were rewarded roughly six minutes later after an unfortunate bounce for the Grizzlies saw rookie forward Cody Monds blow a tire in his own zone and cough up the puck to the wrong player: Daniel Rybarik. The Silverback sniper hopped on the loose puck and score in similar fashion to Mylymok, beating Souliere short side over the blocker to make it 2-0.
With under two minutes to go in the period, the Silverbacks got their third power play of the game and scored a timely goal. Not only did it come with 28 seconds to go in the period, but it was a thing of beauty, as Mylymok fed a cross-ice saucer pass to Akito Hirose, who waited and then fed a pass back the opposite way in front to Drew Bennett, who had a tap-in to make it 3-0.
After 40 minutes of play, the Silverbacks had a 3-0 lead on the scoreboard and a commanding 31-17 edge in shots on goal. They out-shot Victoria 18-7 in the middle period.
Salmon Arm put this one to bed by converting on the power play yet again just over seven minutes into the third. Bennett finished off a pretty play on the backhand for his second on the game, this time after Simon Tassy spun off a check and fed a pass in front.
When the lead went to four, the Grizzlies in turn stepped up their effort and got some chances, but each and every time they had an opportunity, Langenegger was right there to shut the door. In the end, he made 14 third period saves and 31 overall for his first career playoff shutout.
For the full boxscore, click here.
TOP PERFORMERS
Drew Bennett, Salmon Arm Silverbacks: Bennett potted two on the power play — his first two career BCHL playoff goals — but he also had the only assist on Mylymok’s goal, after he got the puck to Mylymok deep in his own zone. He also remains a staple on the penalty kill, which went 4-for-4 on Saturday.
Nick Martino, Salmon Arm Silverbacks: The question isn’t “if” with Martino, but “when,” as he once again created a number of offensive chances but was unable to pot one home himself. He centered Bennett and Mylymok and was a big reason they had success. As usual, he hounded the puck on the back-check as well and was prevalent on the penalty kill.
Ethan Langenegger, Salmon Arm Silverbacks: Langenegger was superb, especially in the third period. His rebound control remains strong, with tons of pucks either going off his stick and out of play, or getting absorbed by his chest. When there were second opportunities, he battled and maintained his strong positioning.
THEY SAID IT
“We talked about setting the standard yesterday and again in the room today, it seemed like guys are talking about how the standard has been set again and we just continue to make strides in the right direction. To get off to a start like this in the playoffs — you can’t ask for much more than that. We wanted to get both of these games at home and to do it the way that we did, gives us a lot of momentum heading into Victoria…I don’t think there was much change from our standpoint [from the first to the second], other than the fact that we were just able to capitalize off some of their mistakes. But again, our defensive structure for the first two periods was as strong as its been this entire season and I think if you look at the way we scored our goals, especially our first two 5-on-5 goals, you see they started from the defensive zone and our defensive structure. We’ve known for a long time that we play our best offensively when we’re sound defensively and it’s great to see the guys get rewarded for it today a little more than last night.” — Silverbacks assistant coach Carter Cochrane
STAT OF THE GAME
Backs Out-shoot Grizzlies 18-7 in the 2nd: The second period was where this game turned for good. Even if the Silverbacks hadn’t struck as many times as they did, it would have given them the momentum they needed going into the third.
WHAT’S NEXT
The series now shifts to Victoria for two games, which will go Monday and Tuesday night next week. All games in the series have 7 p.m. puck drops. For the full first round playoff schedule, click here.
All playoff games of course can be heard on 91.5 EZ Rock with the pre-game shows starting half an hour before puck drop. Fans can also stream games on HockeyTV.
