Weekend Recap is presented by Iris Optometry.
Coming off a 1-0 win at home against the Clippers, the Kings head off to the Island to face the Grizzlies and Clippers again. On Friday the Kings were in Victoria playing in a building that haven’t won in since 2019 and were looking to change that.
After a scoreless first Nathan King and the Grizzlies would open the scoring just under 5 minutes into the second. The goal ended Vincent Lamberti’s shutout streak to his BCHL career which lasted around 85 minutes. The Kings would respond midway through on a power play when Thomas Belzil ended a 18 game goalless drought for his 4th on the year to tie it up. The Kings would take the lead on another power play late in the period when Alex Sandhu who had 2 assists in the game found Rémi Gélinas in front who tipped home his 3rd to give the Kings the lead into the third.
The Grizzlies would tie it up early in the 3rd on a power play goal of their own, but the deadlock didn’t last long. 2 minutes later Kristians Samitis would pick up the puck at center and take in into the offensive zone and fire it past Grizzlies goaltender Jack Fialkoff who happen to be Samitis’ former teammate to score his first in the BCHL and to put the Kings up. With the lead once again the Kings were determined to hold on to the lead and they did just that. Anthony Yu would add an empty netter for his 14th and Lamberti made 38 saves to secure the Kings a big victory over the Grizz.
On Saturday the Kings would take on the Clippers for the final time this season and new goaltender Justin Katz would make his Kings debut between the pipes.
The Kings got off to a hot start but couldn’t solve Chazz Nixon in goal. After a sluggish start on the Nanaimo side they would being to find their way in the second half of the period and would score the opener with under 4 minutes left. They would hold on to that lead all the way to the third and would extend the lead to two early on, but the Kings did not give up. Some textbook passing between Will Jones and Christian Maro would set up Simone Dadiè who one timed in his 5th to make it a one goal game. However the Clippers would restore the two goal cushion with 7 minutes to go when Mike Murtagh went coast to coast on the power play to make it 3-1. The Kings were a resilient bunch in this one and would manage to get within a goal again after Thomas Belzil notched another power play marker to make it 3-2 with just over 3 minutes left. The Kings would kill a big penalty not long after and had just over a minute with the extra attacker out to try and even the score. They would get a good chance but right after Dylan Kinch chipped to puck past the Kings D and scored the empty netter to seal a 4-2 win for the home team.
After a two point weekend the Kings now have a record of 9-25-3 and as of writing sit 4 points behind the Langley Rivermen for 8th place in the Coastal Conference. Next for the Kings it is a huge doubleheader at home against the Rivermen who they chase in the standings. With 4 big points on the line the Kings could get themselves right back into the thick of the playoff race or Langley could create more separation between the two sides. The games take place Friday the 9th and Saturday the 10th both are at 7pm. You can get your tickets online at tickets.powellriverkings.com
Massullo Motors Highlights | www.powellriverkings.com/highlights
