Andy Desautels turned away 21 shots for his second shutout of the season and the Warriors first-ever against their fiercest rival in West Kelowna's 4-0 triumph over the Penticton Vees Saturday at Royal LePage Place.
The win, on the heels of Friday's 3-1 win in Penticton, marked the first time in six years the Warriors have beat the Vees in back-to-back games.
Reid Simmonds scored twice with Tyson Dallman and Seb Lloyd adding singles.
Desautels, who has allowed just five goals against in his last six games, says the shutout was just a bonus for him. "The two points is what we want each night."
Despite battling food poisoning over the last 48 hours, the veteran netminder says hard work was the key to both wins over the division leading Vees.
"Hard work pays off. We were doing the little things right, playing a simple game and getting pucks deep," says Desautels.
"My defence has been really incredible for the last month. It's made my job super easy. I'm seeing everything. Things just worked out for us – I guess that's what hard work does."
Dallman got the Warriors on the board with what proved to be the game winner when he shovelled home a rebound off Ben Tegtmeyer's point shot during a first period power-play.
Newly acquired defenceman Taki Pantziris did all the work on the 2-0 goal. He forced the puck deep, went after it himself, and eventually found the loose puck in the slot. His shot from the point was stopped by Olivier Mantha, however Lloyd found the loose puck and jammed in under
the Penticton netminder.
Simmonds put the game away with two goals in the third.
His first was a harmless dump in from center ice that somehow eluded Mantha's glove and found its way into the net.
Late in the game, with the Vees on a power-play and Mantha on the bench, Simmonds outbattled two Vees for a loose puck and slid it into the empty net.
It was a big weekend for a Warriors club that’s had little success against the Vees over the past three seasons.
However, Warriors head coach Rylan Ferster says success against anyone is welcome news for the Warriors.
"We need the wins right now, it doesn't matter who they're against," says Ferster.
"It's nice to get the points after the little skid we went on in November."
Ferster says the Warriors had to be at their very best to take the four points from the Vees.
"They are such a good team and they play the right way. They do so many things well and you have to play your ‘A’ game to just have a chance," says Ferster.
"We were fortunate to get some saves and some timely bounces. Very fortunate to get the four points over the weekend."
The Warriors didn't give up much on the defensive side, allowing just 21 shots – a lot of those from the outside and from long range.
Desautels was forced to make a few key saves in the dying seconds of the first and second periods and during a few early Vees power-plays.
The Warriors head into the Christmas break winners of two in a row and five of their last six.
They are third in the Interior Division, a point up on Merritt and four back of second place Vernon.
The team returns from the Christmas break Dec. 30 in Trail.
Their next home game is Jan. 4 against the same Trail Smoke Eaters.
They will also try to get healthy with forward Jordon Masters (lower body) and defenceman Mac Ferner (upper body) still nursing injuries.
