PHOTO: Tami Quan
WEST KELOWNA, B.C. – Five different goal scorers combined for a dominant effort and series victory for the West Kelowna Warriors in a 5-1 win over the Cranbrook Bucks in Game 7 of their Interior Conference Quarter Final series at Royal LePage Place on Tuesday night.
A completely dominating opening period by the home side highlighted a strong opening period and came with a goal in the final moments from captain Brennan Nelson who gave the Warriors a 1-0 lead in Game 7 and broke the ice on the scoresheet.
Jack Farrell neatly kept the puck inside of the offensive zone and slid a pass to the left face-off circle where Dylan Krayer fed a pass to the right wing and Nelson snapped home a quick shot over the left shoulder of Bucks goaltender Carter Capton with 19 seconds remaining in the period for a 1-0 advantage.
West Kelowna continued to pour on the pressure in the second period, using two goals in the period to push their lead to three. Viggo Nordström tallied a power play goal at the 12:57 mark on a perfect pass from the left side of the ice from Jackson Kyrkostas to spot Nordström with the one-time shot that went through the legs of Capton. It was Nordström’s 3rd playoff goal and West Kelowna’s 10th power play goal of the series.
16-year-old Dylan Krayer notched his 2nd career playoff goal and a rush in the middle of the ice that saw him drift to the right face-off circle and sail the puck past the blocker side of Capton that pushed the West Kelowna lead to 3-0 heading into the final period.
Felix Caron added to the advantage with his 4th goal of the playoffs, taking a Trent Wilson pass at the goal line on the glove side and snapping a shot past Capton before Julian Frias at 13:03 of the 3rd period gave him team some life with a chip shot at the front of the net while shorthanded that got over the glove of Matthew DellaRusso, which stood as the lone blemish on the Warrior goaltender’s night.
The Bucks did everything they could to generate more offense, sending Capton to the bench for an extra attacker but Kyrkostas took advantage of that and buried his 2nd goal of the series into the empty net to help solidify the victory,
Matthew DellaRusso earned his 3rd victory in the playoffs and made 18 saves on the 19 shots he faced throughout the night. Carter Capton did everything he could for his squad, making 33 saves on 37 shots in his 1st loss of the playoffs.
FINAL SCORE: 5-1 Warriors
SHOTS ON GOAL: 38-19 Warriors
WARRIORS PP: 1/2
WARRIORS PK: 1/1
3 STARS:
1) Dylan Krayer (1-1-2)
2) Felix Caron (1-1-2)
3) Trent Wilson (0-3-3)
Fortis Energy Player of the Game: Jack Pridham (0-1-1)
ATTENDANCE: 1,416
With the win, the Warriors advance to take on the Salmon Arm Silverbacks in Round 2 of the BCHL Playoffs with Game 1 of the series taking place on Friday night at Ryal LePage Place with a 7:00 PM puck drop. Tickets are available for purchase on the Warriors website as well as at the Warriors Office and Box Office, which opens one hour before puck drop on game day.
