Vernon, BC: The Vipers erased a 3 goal deficit and a one goal deficit and Cam MacDonald scored the overtime winner as the Vernon Vipers edged the Salmon Arm Silverbacks 5-4.
The Silverbacks jumped out to a quick start as they had a 3-0 shot advantage early. The Silverbacks struck first as Will Poirier scored the opening goal from the slot as his shot went off a stick and softly over the shoulder of Reilly Herbst. The Vipers penalty kill sparked the group as they killed off a Silverback powerplay. The Vipers then had a couple of good shifts in the offensive zone as Max Bulawka missed on one chance, then was robbed on the second. JoJo Tanaka-Campbell had a chance on a deflection in front of the net, but couldn't get it home. Reilly Herbst would stop Akito Hirose in front of the net on a big chance towards the end of the period to keep it 1-0 in favour of the visitors after 1 period.
The Silverbacks had a quick flurry of offense early in the period as Will Poirier sniped his 2nd of the afternoon from a centering pass from below to the red line to make it 2-0. 39 seconds later Logan Shaw was set up in the slot and quickly made it 3-0. The Vipers rallied the troops a little and started to get some momentum in the offensive zone. They were able to get on the board as a Ryan Shostak shot was kicked out by Grant Adams, but right to Ben Sanderson who made it 3-1 with his 2nd of the season. Shortly after that, Brett Fudger dropped the gloves with Jarrod Semchuk in a spirited tilt to keep the volume and energy in Kal Tire Place high. The Vipers chipped into the deficit as Ben Helgeson spotted Jackson Caller in the left circle and he made no mistake for his 3rd of the season to make it 3-2 after 2 periods.
In the third, the Vipers tried to ride the wave of momentum and were rewarded with the hard work on a spectacular pass from Matt Kowalski while on his knees, spotting JoJo Tanaka-Campbell on the back door, knocking it out of midair to tie the game up at 3. The Silverbacks took the lead right back as a rebound off of Herbst was tapped home by Poirier for his 3rd of the afternoon to make it 4-3 for the visitors. ON just the 2nd powerplay chance for the Vipers, Landon Fuller used the wing span to will a loose puck home off a centering pass from Trey Taylor to tie the game up once more at 4. That score would hold up through the rest of regulation setting the scene for overtime.
In overtime, it took nearly the full five minutes, but Cam MacDonald found a lane in the left circle and ripped a laser post and it with just 10 seconds left to give the Vipers the extra point and a 5-4 win.
The Vipers will be in action on Friday night as they travel to West Kelowna to take on the Warriors.
