Vernon, BC: It was quite the bounce back effort from the Vipers who received two goals from Cam MacDonald and 20 saves from Max Palaga as they skated back into the win column with a 3-0 victory over Powell River.
The Vipers had a number of chances in the first period as Matt Kowalski had a chance on a powerplay and Elan Bar-lev-wise narrowly missed on a wrap around. It was a pair of powerplays that helped spur on the offense. Not to be overlooked the defensive side of the game was excellent as they minimized the number of quality scoring chances even while shorthanded and the period ended scoreless.
The Vipers had an early powerplay that helped to get the offense flowing following the intermission. They didn’t capitalize, but started buzzing shortly after. They would get another powerplay and one second after it expired, Cam MacDonald poked home a loose puck for his second goal of the season making it 1-0. A few minutes later the Vipers increased their lead as a Doug Scott slap shot was deflected by Ben Sanderson to make it 2-0. The Vipers continued to put the pressure on in every zone keeping the Kings to just 4 shots in the period. After 40 the score was 2-0.
The Vipers tried to increase their lead in the third period, but most importantly they were very responsible defensively. As much as the Kings continued to try chip into the deficit, there just wasn’t a lot of room to move. Every Powell River rush started in their own zone and there were very few easy entrances into the Vernon zone. Powell River had a chance on a powerplay midway through the period, but the Vipers penalty kill was perfect and eased the game towards the finish line. Cam MacDonald would hit the empty net for his 2nd of the night and third of the season to seal it 3-0.
“We played with a lot of structure tonight. We need to be comfortable playing in low scoring, tight checking games and I thought we did that really well tonight,” says Head Coach and GM of the Vipers Jason McKee.
The Vipers are now off for a week before welcoming Cowichan Valley on Saturday night.
