It didn't look like the same team on the ice Saturday night as the Kings barely got by Trail 3-2 in double overtime.
They got some great chances to put the Smokies away but either missed the net or Trail's James D'Andrea made the save.
Neither team was able to score in the first period and fans had that uh-oh look as the Kings missed a number of good opportunities to score.
Trail, who looked slightly disinterested in the first period, got a big lift when Boytinck snapped a wrist shot past Phillips from close range at 3:31 of the second period.
Give the Kings credit as they bounced back right away with a great shot from the right faceoff circle by Cohen Adair 20 seconds later.
Daniel Schuler had himself quite a night with a lot of good looks but until 15:54 that's all he had.
He did score late in the second to put the Kings up for the first time in the game and a 2-1 lead after the second period.
Kings had a couple of more good scoring chances in the final period – Mitch Ball missed an open net and Schuler sent a backhand wide – but again they allowed Trail back into the game when Erik Cooper tied it 2-2 in traffic.
The first overtime yielded no goals but more sloppy play from both sides.
Matt Scarth took a holding penalty coming out of the offensive zone and on the delay call Nicholas Wong threw his elbow into the head of Steven Schmidt.
Despite Schmidt's obvious pain, difficulty in getting to his feet and blood on his jersey and ice, referee Steven Bratt gave Wong a minor and misconduct for the hit.
The comedy of errors in a tie game continued when Trail was called for too many men on the ice but Kings' Schuler got them off the hook with a tripping penalty behind the Smoke Eater's net.
Neither team could take advantage of the others mistakes but Schuler attoned for his with a great goal early in the second overtime.
At 1:05 he took a great pass from Craig Dalrymple and beat Trail's defenseman to cut across the crease and try to slip the puck by D'Andrea. The goalie made the save but as Schuler went by he got the puck back, hesitated, took aim and fired in the winner.
The Kings bench emptied and although the result was the same as the night before the method was very different.
"It was sloppy," said Chad van Diemen after the game.
"We had a lot of chances in the first and second and we just took penalties at bad times."
"We let them hang around and those penalties are big momentum changers and we've got to be better disciplined than that when we're playing with the lead."
Schuler had himself quite a night and despite some glorious opportunities still managed to score twice, including the game winner.
"The effort was there," he said, "but it was just sloppy."
"The coach came in after the second period and said they had fourteen turnovers and if you looked at the scoreboard they had fourteen shots."
He admits to struggling of late but on this night he said, "it's nice to be getting those chances because I got hurt at the beginning of the season and I'v e been working my way up and today even though I played pretty sloppy I had the energy back that I had at the beginning of the year."
"And it was nice to be getting those chances."
There's no doubt Schuler was a force in the game and his winner was a nice reward for all of his hard work.
Ron Armitage Mens Wear Three Stars:
1. Daniel Schuler
2. Cohen Adair
3. James D'Andrea
