Salmon Arm, B.C. – The Salmon Arm Silverbacks hosted the Coquitlam Express in the lone inter-conference meeting between the two teams.
For the second straight night, the Silverbacks grab an early first-period lead. Halfway through the opening frame, JJ Monteiro finishes off a beautiful pass from Tanner Walos on a two-on-one rush to get the Silverbacks the 1-0 lead. The Silverbacks were also able to kill of a penalty to finish off the period.
The Silverbacks extend the lead in the second period. Four minutes in, Zach Bansley for the Express gets called for hooking, sending the Silverbacks to their first powerplay of the game. On the man advantage, Ryan Gillespie collects the rebound in front of the net and backhands it by the goalie for the powerplay goal, making it 2-0. Just before the media timeout, Isaac Lambert grabs the puck at the end boards, cuts to the front of the net, and tucks the puck past the outreached leg for the 3-0 Silverbacks lead. Coquitlam gets on the board to cut the lead back to a two-goal game when Jake Manfre gets a step behind the defenseman and scores a breakaway goal.
The scoring doesn’t stop for the Silverbacks in the third period. Within the first three minutes, the Silverbacks run a set play off the offensive faceoff that sees Isaac Lambert get a drop pass at the blue line and launch one towards the net for his second goal of the game. Six minutes later, it’s the Express showing off their set plays when James Shannon wins the faceoff forward, gets a clean shot, and Kasper Walther-Sneve hammers home the rebound to make it 4-2. With the net empty, Riley Ashe takes a shot from center ice and hits dead middle of the net to ice home the game, 5-2.
Ryan Grout got the win, making 27/29 saves.
