A brief rally in the third was too little too late as the Kings spotted the Victoria Grizzlies a 5-goal headstart on Sunday afternoon, en route to a 6-2 loss at the Q Centre in the final game between the two teams this regular season.
A good start from Powell River who took the game to the Grizzlies early in the period, however none of the several shot attempts were able to beat goaltender Kurtis Chapman. It wasn’t until midway through when the Grizzlies broke the deadlock on a play that summarized the Kings puck luck over recent weeks. As the Kings controlled in the offensive zone, a puck was bought back to Carmine Buono at the blue line. In receiving the pass and trying to move it on, Buono’s stick broke and created a 2-on-1 break for the Grizzlies where Marty Westhaver kept and beat Adamyk for a 1-0 lead.
From there it was all Victoria as Justin Michaelian scored a pair in the period to make it 3-0 Victoria through 20 with the Kings being outshot 16-10.
Not much joy in the 2nd as Victoria continued to apply pressure, and were rewarded with another pair of goals. First Alex Newhook drove wide on the Kings defence and went upstairs on Adamyk to make it 4-0, a goal the Kings protested to no avail, feeling the puck had not crossed the goal line. Then Michaelian completed the hattrick on a 5-on-3 advantage late in the 2nd for a 5-0 lead through 40. The Kings lost Ethan Schmunk in the 2nd period, likely for the remainder of the season as he was hit hard into the boards and came up in a large amount of pain. The team is calling it an upper body injury.
A pair of Kings goals in the third made the scoreline a little closer as Carter Turnbull scored his 21st of the year on a powerplay to spoil the shutout, then a few minutes later Mitch Williams beat the goaltender clean from distance for his 8th of the campaign and a 5-2 score. Victoria would tack on one late to complete the season series on a winning note for a 6-2 score. Neal Samanski was ejected, and potentially faces supplemental discipline stemming from a slashing call in the 3rd period. As Samanski and a Grizzlies forward were tied up along the half wall in the Kings zone, Samanski attempted to free his stick from the Grizzlies player, and in doing so whipped it around and connected accidentally with referee Hasret Sidhu. After a stoppage to assess Sidhu, Samanski was ejected, a five minute major penalty put on the board and a match penalty given to Samanski.
The Kings went 3-4-0-1 against the Grizzlies this season. A five game road swing continues next weekend with the season’s final long road trip, through Langley, Merritt and Prince George beginning Friday night.
