By Blake Friars, Contributor
Simon Tassy recorded a three-point night, Owen Say stopped 43 shots and the Salmon Arm Silverbacks killed off four of five West Kelowna power plays as they went on to defeat the Warriors 6-2 inside Royal Lepage Place on Dec. 3.
It was fast-paced in the opening twenty minutes, with the Warriors opening the scoring, as Jayden Price spun and shot it past a screened Say to make it 1-0. It was the first shot of the game. But as they have done all year long, the Silverbacks responded quickly.
Mathieu Cobetto-Roy ripped a shot right under the bar to tie the game at one apiece. Then, after a successful penalty kill, defenceman Lucas Matta fed a streaking Nathan Mackie, who then beat Warriors goaltender Johnny Derrick under the arm to give the Backs a 2-1 lead.
The Warriors got another power play opportunity when rookie forward Ethan Ullrick went off for a hooking minor. The Warriors made them pay, as Felix Trudeau found himself open at the side of the net and roofed it off the post and in over the glove of Say to tie the game at two.
In the middle frame, the Silverbacks started quickly; Mat Bourgault was able to jam home a loose puck in front of Derrick after it was tipped on the net by Tassy. Then, the Silverbacks got into penalty trouble. First, Isaac Lambert went off for crosschecking. Danny Ciccarello then got the gate for slashing and as Ciccarello was still serving his penalty, Will Lavigne was assessed another crosschecking penalty.
The Silverbacks were under siege and killed off a brief five-on-three opportunity. Say came up huge in the three penalty kills as the Backs bent but didn’t break. After all the penalty trouble, it was back to five-on-five hockey and the Silverbacks quickly took advantage.
Mike Ladyman snuck in from the point and roofed a short side shot for his fourth of the campaign, giving the Silverbacks a 4-2 lead. The Warriors outshot the Backs 20-9 in the second period.
The Silverbacks finally got their first power play of the game when Trudeau went off for holding the stick. The Silverbacks cashed in as Tucker Hartmann found some space at the top of the point and roofed a shot over the blocker to give the Backs a three-goal lead. But, they weren’t done there.
Tassy scored yet another goal against the West Kelowna Warriors. He picked up the puck in the neutral zone, dashed in on a breakaway, deked to the backhand and beat Derrick over the pad to give the Silverbacks a 6-2 lead.
Say was incredible, stopping 43 of 45 shots and raising his save percentage from .914 to .918. He also lowered his goals against average from 2.33 to 2.31. The goaltender is now 12-2-1 on the season.
With the win, the Backs improve to a franchise-best 16-3-1 record and extend their winning streak to five in a row. They will be back in action on Dec. 4 when the Spruce Kings visit the Shaw Center.
Read more: VIDEO: Pair of Salmon Arm Silverbacks assist Hillcrest students with toy drive donations
Do you have something else we should report on? Email: zachary.roman@saobserver.net
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