Game Report | TRA vs PR
It was a crazy game.
The Smoke Eaters scored three unanswered third period goals to put away the Powell River Kings 7-5 to close out their BCHL Showcase and a stretch of four games in less than five days.
Trail jumped out to a 2-0 lead on goals by Attila Lippai at about the five minute mark and Lucas Lemieux about 12 minutes later.
That’s when the game went really wonky.
The Kings struck just 13 seconds later and added two more goals before the end of the first period, including the go-ahead marker with less than one second left on the clock.
Trail tallied twice in the middle frame with Evan Sundar striking for his first of two on a move through the goal-mouth and Cash Carter cashed in on a similar play putting the Smokies into a 4-3 lead with 7 1/2 minutes remaining in the second period.
But again, the Kings connected in the final minute on Joel Purdom’s shot from the slot for his second goal of the game at 19:39.
The goals just kept coming in the third period with Powell River regaining the lead on Marek Beaudoin’s deflection just before the two minute mark.
Sundar struck again four minutes later with a one-time snap from the right-wing circle.
The Smoke Eaters kept pressure on the Powell River defense, resulting in tap-ins for Gryphon Bucci and Jason Stefanek just over a minute apart at around the midway point of the period.
The Kings outshot Trail 32-22 and both teams were 0-for-2 on the power play.
Teagan Kendrick got the win in goal raising his season record to 5-2-1-1.
The Smokies ended the road trip with a record of 2-1-0-1.
Trail (6-3-1-1) now gets ready to host Cranbrook (7-1) on Friday in the first clash of the regular season with their Kootenay rivals, featuring a battle involving two of the top teams in the Interior Conference.
Opening face-off at Cominco Arena is set for 7 p.m. and fans are encouraged to reserve their seats in advance at Tickets.TrailSmokeEaters.com.