Shock, Disappointment, Dismay, Kings Fall 5-4 in OT to Vees

I’m at a bit of a loss to explain tonight. The Kings lead for a lot, we in the game always, fought adversity through a short bench, put themselves in a position to win, but came away with just a single point, falling in overtime 5-4 to the Penticton Vees.

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Here are some thoughts from the game:

Kings started the game with just 9 forwards. No Jarryd Leung and Matt Scarth due to injury. No Evan Richardson with suspension. Add Luke Ripley on the ‘DL’ and the Kings played 9 and 7 tonight. You knew it was going to be tough and a lot of people were doubting the team heading into tonight’s game, thinking how could a depleted lineup go against the ‘might’ of the Penticton Vees. Boy the team showed them!
Even though the line tailed off towards the 2nd half of the game, how good were Teagan Waugh, James Neil and Luke Nogard tonight? Nogard in on all three goals, and as we said on the show, not just ‘in’ on them and getting a 2nd assist for a play in his own zone, but being instrumental in the setup of the play. That was as good as we’ve seen Luke play this season. Happy 19th Birthday, and congrats to Luke for being named player of the month for December.
Not to be outshined, Teagan Waugh was again excellent. You could tell his compete level was through the roof. He made several plays from sitting on the ice, on his stomach, etc when he should have been down and out after getting taken off the puck. It’s so good to see #8 at full speed. There are few players in the league who do as much as ‘Teags’ for as little attention they get around the league.
Kings controlled opening 10 minutes of the 1st, but the longer the period went on, the better Penticton got. They were far better than the Kings from minutes 10-20 and were rewarded with a pair of goals, including a pretty one from Troy Stetcher shorthanded. For those that saw the goal, he’s a defenceman by the way. I will admit that after 20, I had a ‘it’s going to be a long night’ feeling. Boy the team showed me!
Great start again to the 2nd, but again the Vees countered. It seemed as if the Vees were just going to fend the Kings off all night, and try and sit on a 1-goal lead. They have the talent to do it, but the Kings wouldn’t accept that.
Just like JP Villeneuve put his team on his back in Salmon Arm, Matt Dupont did the same tonight. Great 2nd period, capped off by a pair of goals. No question best player on the ice in the 2nd period.
Kings lead 4-3 after 40. When leading after 40, they had only been beaten twice. Once in regulation and once in overtime. Both were 1-goal leads after 40 too.
Kings were I thought the better team in the 3rd. There wasn’t any ‘golden’ chance for the Vees, and things got a little scrambly for both teams. The Kings had chances, the Vees had chances, but I never felt the Kings were about to surrender the tying goal.
Let’s talk about ‘that goal’. The JP Villeneuve chance that was waved off. Initial thoughts from the box was that it was waved off because the net was off. Neither Andy or I could figure out why the play was dead. 2nd thought was the ref lost the puck, which was confirmed in talking with Chad Van Diemen after the game, as well as a few of the players. JP Villeneuve told me the whistle was blown as the puck was in the air and crossing the goal line. Obviously pretty disappointing.
On that goal, I said it on the broadcast, and I’ve already had 3 people tell me the same thing. Remind you of Game 4 in the Finals last year? That disallowed goal late in the 3rd? That one would have tied the game up, different scenario here, but same result…same area of the ice too. Spooky.
Vees never gave up, and a guy who is not noted for his offence, sniped and picked a corner. You couldn’t have placed that shot better, and whether or not it got help (Andy said it may have deflected), it beat Imoo with 28 seconds left.
Speaking of Imoo, both goalies were good tonight. Rare you say that when 9 goals beat them, but neither gave up a goal on a shot they should have stopped. Both made saves they had to make, and Imoo made a nice blocker save in the 3rd period in close which kept the Kings in the lead. It will not bring much consolation for Jonah who was understandably disappointed in the result, but you look and the positives of his game outweighed the negatives.
That winner. 8 seconds from time in the 1st intermission. Vees controlled overtime, enough said.
A lot of people were very disappointed in the refereeing. I’m not going to comment either way on the officiating. In now 117 games with the Powell River Kings, I’ve only ‘lost it’ about a referee once (the missed goalie interference call on Maguire in Game 2 vs Penticton). Were there mistakes made tonight? Probably. Did they impact both teams? Yup. But at the end of the day, did it cost the Kings the game? No. I believe a referee rarely costs a team a game. There are always multiple factors that go into a win and a loss, and one man’s arm is certainly one of them, but it’s not the only one. Van Diemen mentioned in our post-game chat that referee Steve Brown apologised for the quick whistle on Villeneuve’s disallowed goal. But would that have impacted the game had Dupont capatilised on two empty net chances on the powerplay a little earlier (not picking on Matt, just using it as an example)?