Jeff Smith stopped 25 shots and the Kings got goals from six different players en route to a 7-0 shutout of the Cowichan Valley Capitals to split the season series.
The Powell River Kings got scoring off to an early start with a fortunate bounce. On an attempted clear from Jeff Smith, the puck rimmed around the boards and hit the referee and fell for Tristan Mullin who started and finished a nice rush down the ice with Mitchell Hawes and Chris Protopoulos for his 27th of the season and a 1-0 lead.
Midway through the Kings scored 59 seconds apart. First the Kings turned a Cowichan chance into a rush down the ice with Carter Turnbull bypassing Rylan Ball in the slot and finding Jonny Evans on the back door for a 2-0 lead. Then Kyle Betts got a soft one on another rush down the ice, firing from the right wall and squeezing through goaltender Lane Michasiw for his 17th and a 3-0 lead.
Not long after Liam Lawson made it 4-0 by tapping home a centering pass from Gavin Rauser after some nice work by Rauser along the boards and beating the Capitals defenceman 1-on-1 in the corner. The 4-0 lead held up through 20 with the Kings outshooting the Capitals 17-6.
The Kings added to the lead in the second and third periods. Carter Turnbull scored for the 5th straight game, this time his 20th of the season extending the lead to 5. Into the third the Kings rounded out the scoring with goals to Jeremy LeClerc from the right point, then a shorthanded rush down the wing from Kyle Betts with just over a minute remaining for a 7-0 scoreline.
Jeff Smith did the rest, stopping all 25 shots including a point blank chance late in the third period to preserve the clean sheet, his 4th of the season and 7th of his Junior career.
Post-game thoughts:
- Rarely can you profile a game, or in this case a weekend series, before it starts and then have it come true to form through the game or games. On Friday night, in the pre-game show, I spoke on discipline and the Capitals tendency to send teams to the powerplay. In both games, the Kings allowed Cowichan to take penalties. The league’s 2nd most penalised team gave up 14 powerplays in two games, while the Kings who are the 2nd least penalised team allowed only 5.
- Tonight’s game provided scoring up and down the lineup. All but 5 players registered at least a point, four of those were defenceman with Austin Kamer the only one missing out, however his game ended early courtesy a 2nd period fight.
- It’s the first time since October 2011 that the Kings have posted back to back shutouts. 5-0 and 3-0 scorelines against the Langley Rivermen on October 1st and 2nd.
- Jeff Smith now joined Wenatchee’s Chase Perry with 4 shutouts on the season, ahead of 4 goaltenders with 3 clean sheets on the season. Smith has done his 4 shutouts in 2 less games.
- 4th multi-point game for Chris Protopoulos. All four have come against Island Division opponents with a pair (including tonight) against Cowichan. ‘Proto’ had 1 goal and 2 assists in a 7-5 loss in Duncan back in November. Others came against Nanaimo and Victoria.
- Carter Turnbull extends his goal streak to 5 games with 5 tallies in that span. It’s the longest active streak of its kind.
Here’s Kyle Betts and Brock Sawyer from the post-game show:
Three Stars of the Game
- Carter Turnbull (Kings) – 1 goal, 2 assists
- Chris Protopoulos (Kings) – 2 assists
- Jeff Smith (Kings) – 25 saves, 22nd win, 4th shutout
The Kings have Superbowl Sunday off before entertaining the Victoria Grizzlies on Family Day Monday in a free game at the Hap Parker Arena. Faceoff is at 2:00pm.
