The Silverbacks (25-15-4-4) visit the Merritt Centennials (18-26-1-4) tonight at 7:30p.m. in the back half of a weekend home-and-home that begin last night in Salmon Arm, the Silverbacks took a 2-0 lead into the third period but fell 4-3 in double OT to the Cents at the Shaw Centre.
Neither team found the back of the net in the opening period, as the ‘Backs outshot the Cents 12-10. Mitch Skapski scored the first goal of the game, his first as a Silverback and 8th of the season at 9:42 of period two. Nick Hutchison increased the lead to 2-0 with his 14th, a power-play goal at 14:59. Merritt outshot Salmon Arm 15-8 in the second, but the ‘Backs took a 2-0 lead into the third.
Merritt cut the lead in half on the man-advantage with Damian Chrcek off for high-sticking, the Silverbacks lead 2-1 at 7:29 of the third. The Centennials tied the game, 4-on-4 at 10:23. Mitch Skapski’s second of the game and 9th of the season put the home team ahead 3-2 at 11:53. But Merritt tied the game 3-3 with 11 seconds remaining in regulation, and 6-on-5.
The Cents outshot the Silverbacks 15-7 in the third and 40-27 Centennials after regulation, 41-27 total. The visitors ended the game just 52 seconds into OT, Nick Fiorentino’s 7th. The ‘Backs finished 2-for-6 on the power-play, and 5-for-6 on the penalty-kill.
Angus Redmond made 37 saves, keeping the Silverbacks in the game. The Cents earned their first OT victory of the season, now 1-4-1 while the ‘Backs have yet to win in OT at 0-4-4.
The Silverbacks are 12-10-1-2 on the road, and 0-1-0-1 in February after losing 5-3 on the road to the Trail Smoke Eaters (20-29-0-2) on Tuesday night in Trail. The Smoke Eaters were shutout 9-0 at home last night by the West Kelowna Warriors (32-16-1-20). The Silverbacks are now nine points back of the second place Warriors, but the ‘Backs have three games in hand. The Smokies host the Warriors tonight at 7:30p.m.
The Silverbacks will host the Smoke Eaters on Tuesday at 7p.m. at the Shaw Centre in Salmon Arm.
Each Silverbacks and BCHL game is webcast live, PPV http://bchl.fasthockey.com as well as each ‘Backs road game is broadcast live at CKVS 93.7 FM http://voiceoftheshuswap.ca Each home game is broadcast at http://bit.ly/1s0deO7 Tune into CKVS each Monday night throughout the season beginning at 7p.m. for 30 minutes or more of Silverbacks talk, including interviews and news from around the BCHL.
