They were really exited to get this game going in Powell River, as it was actually a 1:52pm puck drop, as opposed to the scheduled 2:00pm start. The Dogs ran into penalty trouble early in the game, as Evan Tironese picked up a double minor after the whistle that saw the Dogs end up a man down when all the dust settled. The Dogs would do a good job of killing the penalty off however, not giving up much in the way of chances. They would promptly end up in the penalty box again immediately afterwards. While they would again come up with a solid penalty kill, it's not a good recipe to generate offense and play in the other end of the rink. The Dogs would end up drawing a penalty and getting a power play chance of their own, but they might have considered declining the opportunity as they looked disinterested and disconnected, and ended up allowing a partial breakaway that resulted in another penalty just half a minute into the power play. The Dogs would again kill it off, and shortly afterwards earned yet another power play. Despite a change in personnel, they didn't generate much in the way of chances as the game remained scoreless through 20 minutes with the Dogs up in the shots on goal 9-8. It was the first Dogs game this season that neither team hit the score sheet in the opening period.
The second period saw the Bulldogs start with a man-advantage after a Powell River penalty at the 20:00 mark of the first. They would connect on it on the rush as Nathan Warren left the puck behind the net for Kurt Gosselin, who put an outlet pass up the right wing for Evan Tironese. He would skate the puck through centre and over the Kings line up the left wing before faking a shot and then taking a shot from the left circle that he absolutely ripped bar-down, short-side high on Magnus to make it 1-0 Dogs 1:29 into the second. The lead was short-lived, as the Kings came right back on an odd-man rush to make it at 1-1 game as Nic Gomerich kept the puck over the line down the right side where he fired one short-side past the glove of Nathan Warren. Nick Nonis picked up the assist on the play at 2:07. The Bulldogs would fight off a Kings power play and push back to take their second lead of the game at the tail end of a power play chance of their own as Evan Tironese pounded a rolling puck on net that was stopped by Magnus, but Dylan Haugen was in perfect position to roof the rebound to make it 2-1, with Josh Adkins also drawing an assist at 9:07. The Dogs built the lead just 1:05 later when Mitch Makin won a faceoff in the Kings end back to Darian Henry, who threw a shot on net that was again stopped by Magnus, but Scott Clark found the rebound at the front of the net and tapped it home on the backhand at 10:12 to make it 3-1. The Kings would get it back on another power play chance as Garrett Halls was whistled as the only guilty player after the Kings had gone hard to the net after the whistle and a skirmish broke out. The Kings scored just 13 seconds into the power play as Jonny Evans out-fought a Bulldog for the puck and walked into the slot where he ripped one stick-side past Warren for the un-assisted mark at 12:23 to make it 3-2 after two periods. The Dogs out shot the Kings 18-13 on the period for a two-period total of 27-21.
The third period saw the Bulldogs whistled for consecutive penalties. They were successful in killing off the first one, but the Kings connected late in the second advantage, a high-sticking penalty to Kurt Gosselin, who was on his stomach at the time. The Kings would connect to tie the game at 3-3 as a pass to the net was knocked away by Nathan Warren, but it was found and roofed short-side high by Jarid Lukosevicius. Stephen Hiff and Kurt Keats picked up the assists at 9:00. As the period wore on, the Dogs looked everything like a team playing their third game in two and a half days, with two of those being on the road, as they looked in full survival mode. While they didn't carry the play offensively, they didn't give up much in the way of offensive chances either, doing a good job to salt the time away. Inside the final two minutes, the Dogs failed to get the puck out at their blue line, and two Kings were left wide alone in front. It looked like either the chance hit the post, or that Nathan Warren made a desperation save. The home town Powell River Goal judge did NOT turn on the goal light. The referee who was in position to make a call, didn't, and instead just stood there. After a conference with both linesman, and a discussion with the goal judge to never saw a goal, the Kings were awarded one anyway by the Referee. Jacob Pritchard would get credit for it, from Kurt Keats and Jarid Lukosevicius at 18:06 of the third for the 4-3 lead and the final score as the Dogs were out of gas and couldn't muster an attack as time ran out.
Final shots favoured the Dogs 33-31 with Nathan Warren taking the loss and Brett Magnus picked up the win. The Dogs went 1 for 6 on the power play while the Kings went 2 for 7.
The Dogs are next in action Friday at home when they host the Coquitlam Express.
Thanks as always for reading.
Hammer
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