PHOTO: Tami Quan
WEST KELOWNA, BC. – Carter Oakenfold played the Game 2 hero and tied the series at one game a piece in earning a 5-4 overtime victory over the Salmon Arm Silverbacks in their Interior Conference Semi Final series on Saturday night at Royal LePage Place.
Salmon Arm opened the scoring in the game in quick fashion, notching the opening goal just 25 seconds into the contest coming courtesy of their captain Nathan Mackie, who earned a goal in his third consecutive game to give the visitors a 1-0 lead.
The puck worked to the blueline where Marcus Broberg threw a shot to the front of the net that deflected off the stick of Mackie at the front of the goal and past the blocker side of Warriors goaltender Matthew DellaRusso to give the Silverbacks the early 1-0 advantage.
That’s all Salmon Arm would really muster in the 1st period as the Warriors controlled most of the frame in the offensive zone and registered 12 shots on the goal of Eli Pulver but the veteran goaltender stood tall and kept his team ahead after the opening 20 minutes of play.
The game opened up offensively after that and began with a three-goal outburst in the 2nd period from West Kelowna, who tied the game just under five minutes into the frame courtesy of Jackson Kyrkostas. After a Landen Hilditch shot went off the right pad of Pulver, Kyrkostas was at the side of the net to bang the rebound home for his 3rd goal of the playoffs and tied the game at 1-1.
West Kelowna earned their first lead of the series at 10:45 of the middle frame as Jack Pridham notched his 6th goal of the postseason. Felix Caron flung a puck from the right wing corner to find Pridham in the left face-off circle as the Warriors forward made no mistake on the one-time shot, beating Pulver on his blocker side to give the Warriors a one-goal advantage.
The lead did not last long as under two minutes later, JJ Monteiro deflected a puck past the glove side of DellaRusso to tie the game at 2-2 before the Warriors collected their fourth shorthanded goal of the playoffs courtesy of Viggo Nordström to give them the lead once more.
Nordström made his way down the right side of the ice and cut to the slot inside of the offensive zone with a cross body shot that banked off the right post and past Pulver for his 3rd shorthanded goal of the playoffs and 5th of the postseason to give the Warriors a 3-2 lead into the 3rd period.
Pridham added to that advantage at 7:18 of the final regulation period, taking a pass from Felix Caron and beating Pulver for his second goal of the game and 7th marker of the postseason to push the Warriors ahead by a 4-2 margin.
The Silverbacks, again, got within a goal under a minute later with Cole Cooksey making a move in tight and past the glove side of DellaRusso before Monteiro evened the score and forced overtime with his second goal of the night at 13:41 of the 3rd period that saw the game knotted up at 4-4 and force overtime for the first time in the series.
It didn’t take long to decide a winner in the game as Carter Oakenfold ended the festivities just 2:09 into the extra frame with his 1st career BCHL playoff goal. Oakenfold collected a loose puck in the left face-off circle and drove to the net, making a move to the backhand in tight and sliding the puck past the glove side of Pulver to give the Warriors a Game 2 victory and even the series 1-1.
Matthew DellaRusso turned aside 20 of the 24 shots thrown his way in his 4th win of the playoffs while Eli Pulver made 37 saves on 42 attempts at his goal in his 3rd loss of the postseason.
FINAL SCORE: 5-4 Warriors (OT)
SHOTS ON GOAL: 42-24 Warriors
WARRIORS PP: 0/1
WARRIORS PK: 2/3
3 STARS:
1) Carter Oakenfold (1-0-1)
2) Jack Pridham (2-0-2)
3) JJ Monteiro (2-0-2)
Fortis Energy Player of the Game: Landen Hilditch (0-1-1)
ATTENDANCE: 1,011
The series shifts to the Shuswap for Game 3 of the Interior Conference Semi Final between the Warriors and Silverbacks on Tuesday night. Puck drop is slated for 6:00 PM at the Shaw Centre with the game broadcasted live on bchlwarriors.mixlr.com as well as streamed online on FloHockey.
