(Photo Courtesy: Chris Fowler)
SALMON ARM – The Salmon Arm Silverbacks took a 2-0 series lead on Saturday night, doubling up on the Prince George Spruce Kings in a 6-3 final at the Shaw Centre in Salmon Arm.
While Friday was a goaltending duel between Spruce Kings’ Jordan Fairlie and Silverbacks’ Matthew Tovell, Saturday’s game saw goals get traded before the Silverbacks then pulled away in the second period. Salmon Arm had six different goal-scorers piece together their win.
Much like in Friday’s matchup, the Silverbacks opened the scoring in the first period on the powerplay. After Owen Goodbrand got sent to the penalty box for a cross-checking penalty, Brandon Santa Juana scored his first of the BCHL playoffs.
A few minutes later, Prince George answered. Defenceman Luke Schraeder stepped up from the blueline to put the puck on net and Linden Makow redirected it in past Tovell as the Spruce Kings’ forward positioned himself between the two circles.
Before the opening period was up, the Spruce Kings took their first lead of the series. Ty Gagno trailed a two-on-one for Prince George and fired the puck in past the Silverbacks goalie to make it a 2-1 lead into the first intermission.
In the second period, the Silverbacks tied it up early. While the Spruce Kings were able to reclaim the lead, it was only for a moment as the Silverbacks then scored three more goals before the end of the period, taking a 5-3 lead.
Liam Steele put the final swing on the nail to put Game 2 away in favour of Salmon Arm as he made it a 6-3 final.
Jordan Fairlie, despite allowing six goals, had himself a busy night in net for the Spruce Kings, facing 49 shots.
Prince George will now be faced with the task of trying to get back into the series at home as the series shifts to the Northern Capital for Game 3 and 4 on Tuesday (April 4) and Wednesday. Both games will get underway at 7:00 p.m.
GAME SUMMARY
Scoring
Spruce Kings: Makow, Gagno, Schneider
Silverbacks: Santa Juana, Foley, Laylin, Ullrick, Stavroff, Steele
Goaltending
Spruce Kings: Jordan Fairlie (L) 60:00 (6 GA, 43 saves)
Silverbacks: Matthew Tovell (W) 60:00 (3 GA, 20 saves)
Power-Play
Spruce Kings: 1/3 (33%)
Silverbacks: 1/3 (33%)
Shots
Spruce Kings: 23
Silverbacks: 49
Next Game: Tuesday, April 4th versus Salmon Arm Silverbacks at Kopar Memorial Arena in Prince George, B.C. for Game 3 of the Interior Conference Quarterfinal.
