Salmon Arm B.C. — The Salmon Arm Silverbacks edged the Trail Smoke Eaters 2-1 in a shootout on Saturday night at the Shaw Centre.
The Backs are now 16-4-1 this season, and remain tied for first place in the Interior Division with 33 points.
GAME SUMMARY
The Backs had a strong start yet again on Saturday and scored first, this time off the stick of Nick Martino. The Pennsylvania native took a pass from Akito Hirose and was right in the slot when he pivoted and fired a wrist shot past the blocker of goaltender Logan Terness.
The rest of the period remained fairly even, with Salmon Arm being out-shot 10-7 after 20 minutes, but still leading 1-0.
In the second, the Silverbacks turned up the pressure, drawing numerous penalties and getting plenty of chances on their five power plays. Unfortunately, it was the visitors who made good on a man advantage, as Smoke Eaters captain Philippe Lapointe was sprung on a breakaway and converted 9:15 into the period to tie the game 1-1. Despite outshooting Trail 21-7 in the middle frame, the score was still 1-1 after 40 minutes, due to some great goaltending from Terness.
In the third, Backs goaltender Ethan Langenegger became the difference maker, stopping all nine shots he faced. With 1:38 to go in the game, Holden Knights was given a questionable charging penalty, and to make matters worse, with 14 seconds to go, Hunter Sansbury was handed a roughing minor after he took a spear from Tyler Ghirardosi that went uncalled.
That meant Salmon Arm had to start overtime on a 5-on-3 kill. The penalty killers were up to the task, killing off the 5-on-3 and ensuing 5-on-4. The rest of OT solved nothing, which meant the Backs would go to their first shootout of the season.
Trail’s Owen Ozar shot first and was stopped by Langenegger’s glove. Nick Unruh went first for the Backs and converted blocker side to give Salmon Arm a 1-0 lead. Kent Johnson was then denied by the right pad of Langenegger, which gave William Poirier an opportunity to win the game. The Valleyfield, QC native made no mistake, firing a rocket five-hole.
STANDOUT PERFORMANCES
Ethan Langenegger, Salmon Arm Silverbacks: Langenegger wasn’t too busy in the first half of the game, but as the game went on and things got more intense, he stepped up big time. He made numerous shoulder saves and came up big on a few penalty kills to keep the game close the whole way through. The icing on the cake: his two huge saves in the shootout, first with the glove and then with the right pad.
Logan Terness, Trail Smoke Eaters: Terness was even better on Saturday than he was on Friday and finished with 32 saves on 33 shots. The Backs fired over 15 shots on him on their six power play opportunities and couldn’t solve him. He was also making his ninth straight start.
Nick Martino, Salmon Arm Silverbacks: Martino scored his third goal of the season, but also increased his point streak to four games with his first period goal (1G, 4A). He’s settling in very nicely alongside Dom Garozzo and Holden Knights.
For the full boxscore, click here.
STAT OF THE GAME
Silverbacks PP 0-for-6: The Backs had plenty of opportunities to take the lead in this one, particularly in the second period when they had a ton of power play time, but they just couldn’t convert. If they had, it’s quite possible this game wouldn’t have needed extra time.
WHAT’S NEXT
The Silverbacks host the Merritt Centennials on Friday, Nov. 8 and will be wearing one-time Remembrance Day jerseys. On Saturday, they travel to Merritt to finish off the home-and-home.
Both games can be heard on 91.5 EZ Rock with the pre-game show starting at 6:30 p.m., while fans can also stream the game on HockeyTV.
