The Powell River Kings had a 1-0 lead after 40 minutes of play against the Cowichan Valley Capitals Saturday night, but four straight goals in the third by the Capitals lead them to a 4-2 win.
The scoring was opened by Liam Lawson early in the second as he took a no-look drop pass from Carter Turnbull at the left-wing face-off circle and wired a wrist shot over the glove of Lane Michasiw.
Despite power play chances for both teams, the score stayed at 1-0 through 40 minutes with the Capitals leading 20-15 on the shot clock.
Early in the third period is where the game turned in the Capitals’ favour. After an icing call against the Kings, the Capitals won the face-off and Ben Verrall took a long shot from the point. The puck bounced off bodies in front and deflected past an unsuspecting Brian Wilson to tie the game 1:32 into the period.
Less than two minutes later, Alec Sawatzky took a pass deep in the slot and went forehand backhand to beat Wilson to give the Capitals a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.
A few minutes later Jared Domin extended the Capitals lead by following through on a blocked shot, firing his second chance under Wilson’s glove to make it 3-1.
The Kings had an excellent opportunity halfway through the period with a five-on-three power play for over a minute, but despite solid puck control they were unable to solve Michasiw.
Later, while on a power play of their own, the Capitals scored their final goal of the night as Ayden MacDonald sent a pass from the right face-off circle across the ice for Max Newton who slapped a one timer into the net.
The Kings got a goal back late in the game as Turnbull jumped on a rebound in the slot to cut the lead to 4-2 with 2:53 left, but that’s as close as the Kings would get as the Capitals hung on for the win.
The Kings close out their season-opening road trip Sunday afternoon agains their rival Nanaimo Clippers. The Kings will look for their first win of the season, and also exact a little revenger as the Clippers ended the Kings season in last year’s Division Final.
