PHOTO: Tami Quan
SALMON ARM, BC. – The West Kelowna Warriors threw everything and the kitchen sink at Salmon Arm Silverbacks goaltender Eli Pulver, who made 42 saves on 43 shots, as the Warriors fell by a 2-1 score in Game 3 of their Interior Conference Semi Final series on Tuesday night at the Shaw Centre.
Despite outshooting the Silverbacks by a 16-6 margin the opening 20 minutes of play, it was the home team who held a two-goal lead as their goaltender stood tall in the crease. Eli Pulver made saves on each of the 16 shots thrown his way in the 1st period that played a large part in helping his team get ahead, starting with Jonah Aegerter giving Salmon Arm a 1-0 lead.
Aegerter skated onto a loose puck in the middle of the ice that was left by JJ Monteiro and raced to the offensive zone where he was able to lift the puck to the right shoulder of Matthew DellaRusso which banked off his right leg and over the goal line at the 10:08 mark of the period to give the Silverbacks a 1-0 lead.
Cole Cooksey gave the Silverbacks a two-goal edge with his team-leading 6th goal of the playoffs. After the Warriors had a great chance that Pulver denied on a scramble at the front of the net, Salmon Arm brought the puck back into the offensive end as Cooksey got the puck in the left face-off circle and fired over the glove side of DellaRusso with 1:15 remaining in the frame for a 2-0 lead.
The Warriors continued to pepper the Silverbacks with shots in the middle frame, putting 18 shots on Pulver who continued to stand tall all period long and helped his team continue to lead the game 2-0 before West Kelowna used their strong power play to get back in the game and finally beat Pulver on their 33rd shot of the game.
After a 5-on-3 power play had expired, West Kelowna kept pressing in the offensive end as Trey Ausmus held the puck at the blue line and fed a pass to the right face-off circle where Carter Oakenfold bumped the puck to the slot and Jack Pridham ripped a shot past the blocker side of Pulver for his team-leading 8th goal of the postseason with 1:22 remaining in the period to give the Warriors life and make it a 2-1 game into the 3rd period.
As they had done all night, the Warriors added to their shot total in the 3rd period with 9 more attempts at Pulver at the Salmon Arm goal but the 20-year-old netminder was the difference on this night, turning aside 42 of the 43 shots he faced in earning the win in Game 3, his 6th of the playoffs. Matthew DellaRusso made 14 saves on 16 shots and fell for the 5th time this postseason.
FINAL SCORE: 2-1 Silverbacks
SHOTS ON GOAL: 43-16 Warriors
WARRIORS PP: 1/4
WARRIORS PK: 0/0
3 STARS:
1) Eli Pulver (42 saves on 43 shots)
2) Jonah Aegerter (1-0-1)
3) Jack Pridham (1-0-1)
Fortis Energy Player of the Game: Nathan Mackie (0-0-0)
ATTENDANCE: 1,035
Game 4 of this series will take place right back in Salmon Arm on Wednesday night. Puck drop is slated for 6:00 PM at the Shaw Centre with the game broadcasted live on AM 1150 as well as streamed online on FloHockey.
