A lot of positives and a more complete effort, but some costly errors resulted in the 2nd loss of the road trip, this time in regulation by a 5-2 score.
- Frustrating in some ways as a couple of simple errors really hurt the Kings tonight and took away from an overall decent game. By no means ‘great’, but certainly better from Friday’s effort. I thought the Kings did well keeping a lot of Salmon Arm chances to the outside and in the first period despite Salmon Arm outchancing the Kings in quantity, the Kings had better quality.
- Much like Friday vs Trail at home, Stefan Wornig and the Kings D started slowly. The first couple of goals in the 1st period were a little soft defensively, but following that things really tightened up. Wornig in particular showed a marked improvement from minute zero to sixty with a lot of puck handling issues early turning into some good kick saves and a sharp glove after the opening 10-12 minutes.
- In that 1st period, you can pretty much pigeon hole the struggles in between minutes 7 and 13…outside that the Kings were quite good.
- Into the 2nd and every chance the Kings had at momentum was not taken advantage of. Tristan Mullin scores a beauty but the Kings don’t build on it. Liam Lawson snipes another goal and the Kings conceded not long after. Missed opportunities to take control of the game and gain a lead, but the fact that the Kings generated those goals is a positive.
- 5 goals, 2 assists for 7 points. That’s Tristan Mullin over the last 4 games. He says he doesn’t feel any additional responsibility trying to make up for Kyle Betts and Carter Turnbull’s absence, but he’s certainly lifted. He’s 7-2-9 in December’s 6 games as well. This from a player who surprisingly can be very very quiet through stretches. It’s not that’s he’s not doing anything, it’s just that he might not make much noise when he’s out there. However he’s got that extra switch and gear to jump to.
Here’s what Brock Sawyer had to say in the post-game show (no video due to physical restrictions in Salmon Arm):
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The Kings wrap their 3-in-3 road trip and the pre-Christmas schedule at 2:00pm in Vernon against the Vipers.
