The Powell River Kings (33-18-1-0) had a dominant third period showing against the Cowichan Valley Capitals (21-25-3-2) Saturday night, but their comeback fell a few goal posts short as they lost 5-3.
Cowichan opened the scoring with the only goal in the first period after John Sladic got his first of two on the night with a nice deflection in front of Mitch Adamyk on the power play.
The second period wasn’t a good one for the Kings; Cowichan would score three unanswered goals to take a 4-0 lead.
First it was a shorthanded goal just 21 seconds into the period when Haydn Hopkins took the puck away behind the net and centred for Mitch Skapski who beat Adamyk on the blocker side.
Just seconds after a Caps power play expired, Sladic deflected him his second of the game to extend the lead to 3-0.
A three-on-one rush for Cowichan ended with Justin Perron wiring a wrist shot over the blocker of Adamyk half way through the second, ending Adamyk’s night.
Two minutes later Tristan Mullin got the Kings on the board after the Capitals turned the puck over at their own blue line. Carter Turnbull took the puck and found Mullin at the left circle who let a wrist shot go, beating Lane Michasiw under the blocker.
The Kings looked like a completely different team in the third period. Just over a minute in, Jonny Evans walked to the front of the net from the goal line and roofed the puck over Michasiw to cut the lead down to two.
Four and a half minutes later, Carmine Buono let a one timer go from the middle of the blue line that sailed into the top corner, cutting the lead down to one.
Mullin had a number of chances in the third to tie the game, he hit the post on multiple occasions and was robbed once by Michasiw who reached behind him to stop a puck on the goal line.
The chances piled up, but the fourth goal never came and Max Newton hit the empty net from the neutral zone to seal the 5-3 final.
The win was the first win since January 8 for Cowichan, and the Kings first home loss since December 10.
The Kings have just two days to get ready for their next game when they welcome the Alberni Valley Bulldogs Tuesday night. Alberni is currently fifth in the Island Division, three points behind Nanaimo for the final playoff spot.
