SALMON ARM, BC: The Salmon Arm Silverbacks bounced back in Game 5 with a 5-1 victory against the Wenatchee Wild in front of a ruckus crowd inside the Shaw Centre.
In front of the outstanding crowd for Game 5, the home side gave the fans something to cheer about quickly. Mathieu Cobetto-Roy took a pass from defenceman Tucker Hartmann, and he snapped it blocker side on Andy Vlaha to give the Silverbacks a 1-0 lead. It was a nice change of events as the Silverbacks have had to dig themselves out of 2-0 holes in three of the first four games of this series. Moments after opening the scoring, the Silverbacks got their first powerplay of the game when Brett Oberle went off for roughing. The powerplay has been the story in the last two games. They went 1/14 on the man advantage in Games 3 and 4 down south. They had good opportunities as Noah Serdachny let one go from the top of the crease, but Vlaha denied him. The Wild would tie the game with six minutes left in the first period as Anthony Cafarelli beat Owen Say under the arm blocker side for his first of the playoffs. The Wild got a powerplay late in the period but would not capitalize. The Backs outshot the Wild 11-10 in the opening twenty minutes.
Right off the hop in the second period, Santa Juana had a breakaway on Vlaha, but he denied him with the pad. Early in the middle frame, both teams traded powerplays. Daniel Panetta had a shorthanded breakaway and tried to beat Vlaha five-hole, but he was denied, keeping the game 1-1. Each side was able to kill them off respectively. Then just before the midway point of the period, the Silverbacks again got another lengthy 5 on 3 advantage. Unlike in Game 4, they capitalized. Serdachny passed it across to Simon Tassy, and he wired it home past Vlaha to restore the Silverbacks lead, sending the crowd into a frenzy. The Wild nearly tied the game as the puck hit a piece of the glass and bounced out front to Parker Murray but Say alertly made the stop keeping the Backs ahead 2-1. Then late in the second period, Mat Bourgault took a shot from the left circle, and it fooled Vlaha, going post and in for a 3-1 Backs lead. The Silverbacks outshot the Wild 10-9 in the middle frame.
In the third period, the Silverbacks began with a two-goal lead. They continued to press and force the issue offensively, and they were rewarded for it. Ethan Ullrick spun and roofed it glove side on Vlaha for his first of the postseason. The Silverbacks kept coming, this time shorthanded. Simon Tassy made a nice saucer pass to a streaking Noah Serdachny, and he went in all alone and made a beautiful deke to the backhand beating Vlaha and giving the Silverbacks a 5-1 lead. It was Serdachny’s 5th of the playoffs. Owen Say stopped 30 of 31 in the win. The Silverbacks take a 3-2 series lead to Wenatchee and will look to close out the best-of-seven series on the road tomorrow night. Puck drop is 6:00 PM.
