The Silverbacks and West Kelowna Warriors meet tonight at Royal LePage Place in West Kelowna at 7p.m. in the back half of their home-and-home set to begin the season series, after the Warriors pulled out a 4-3 double overtime victory last night (Friday) at the Shaw Centre in Salmon Arm.
The BCHL's leading scorer, Liam Blackburn of the Warriors opened the scoring just 12 seconds into the first period last night (Friday) and Josh Bly later increased West Kelowna's lead to two-nothing in the opening frame. The Warriors out-shot the Silverbacks 13-10.
Neither team scored in the second, but the West Kelowna received their third and fourth power-plays and out-shot the Backs 8-7 in the period.
The Silverbacks found the back of the net early in third period, as the home-team opened the third with two goals in 19 seconds and three goals in a one minute and 27 second span. Chase Priskie scored his third of the season, and just 19 seconds later Shane Danyluk potted his fourth to tie the game at two. And, Carl El-Mir scored his second BCHL goal just 1:08 after the tying goal, to give the Silverbacks their first lead of the game, 3-2. But just past the midway mark of the third, the Warriors tied the game at three and overtime was needed. The Backs out-shot the Warriors 12-11 in the third period.
Five minutes of 4-on-4 overtime was scoreless with the Warriors out-shooting the Silverbacks 2-1. And, the 4-3 overtime winner came with 28 seconds remaining in the 3-on-3 double-overtime period, as Desbiens and Andrew Johnson passed the puck around the Silverbacks in front of the goal and Johnson flipped it up and over Redmond for his fourth of the season at 4:32. The Warriors out-shot the Backs 5-3 in 3-on-3 overtime, and West Kelowna out-shot the Silverbacks 39-33 overall. Angus Redmond made 35 saves. The Warriors finished 0-for-five on the power-play, while the Backs went 0-for-three.
The Silverbacks are now 3-5-0-2 versus the Interior Division this season, and 3-3-0-1 on the road overall. The Backs have been outscored by their Interior Division opponents 35-30.
The Silverbacks went 3-5-0-3 in October, after beginning the season in September 3-1-0-0.
The Silverbacks are 6-6-0-3 with 15 points in 15 games, while the Warriors are 8-5-0-2 with 18 points in 15 games.
