Like the series with Victoria Grizzlies, Powell River Kings would have liked a better start to their second round best of seven against Nanaimo Clippers.
But Nanaimo, the Island Division winner, isn’t Victoria and they represent a tougher challenge for the Kings which was evident in the first two games at Frank Crane Arena.
Goals were tougher to come by and Kings’ mistakes were costly as the Clippers took both home games by scores of 4-2 on Friday, March 13, and 2-1 Saturday, March 14.
These two teams owned two of the best home records during the regular season and on Monday night Kings got back on track with a 2-1 win at Hap Parker Arena.
Game four was at Hap Parker Arena on Tuesday night with the result not known at press time. Game five will be in Nanaimo Thursday, with game six, if necessary, 7:15 pm in Powell River, Friday, March 20. Game seven will be played Sunday night, March 22, in Nanaimo if required.
In the opener on Friday night, both suffered from the expected hangover of their previous series, but Nanaimo’s veteran leaders really stepped up.
Two 20-year-olds, Nic Gushue and captain Brendan Taylor, led the way with a pair of goals each to grab the first game 4-2.
Jacob Pritchard and Mitchell Hawes scored for the Kings, who kept the game close at 2-2 early in the third period, but two goals in just over a couple of minutes sealed the win for Nanaimo.
With almost 90 shots total on net, neither coach was pleased with his team’s effort but Saturday was more of a game fans might expect to see for the remainder of the series.
Shots were 35-34 in favour of the Kings but two early miscues cost them a chance to steal one in Nanaimo.
Jacob Hanlon and Anthony Rinaldi turned first-period turnovers into unassisted goals and the Clippers held on to win 2-1.
Jarid Lukosevicius scored a power-play goal in the second while Brett Magnus was solid in the Kings’ net, but Powell River, despite playing much better, couldn’t pull the trigger on a tying goal.
After a day off, game three Monday night was much the same as the last one in Nanaimo minus the turnovers.
Kings came out with a determined edge in play that had Nanaimo hemmed in their own end for the first 10 minutes and earned them a big 9-2 advantage on the shot clock.
Despite the pressure, Nanaimo goaltender Guillaume Decelles was up to the task and turned away everything until the Kings got cooking on the power play.
They got the first one from Kurt Keats when he tipped in a Pritchard shot at 12:58 of the first period and then it was Pritchard’s turn at 1:24 of the second when he worked the puck to the slot and picked a corner for a two-goal lead.
Kings were still working hard to create scoring chances and Magnus was very good in the net but all the hard work took a hit when they gave Nanaimo a two-man advantage midway through the third period.
Jacob Jackson pulled Nanaimo to within a goal at 11:58 with two seconds remaining in the first penalty which made for some tense moments while they killed the remaining minute of the second one.
Kings managed to limit the damage to the one goal and then it was the Magnus show for the rest of the way.
He absolutely robbed Jackson on the back door and turned away three or four good scoring chances with less than two minutes to go in the game.
Nanaimo pulled Decelles with a minute to go but barely managed a shot on goal as the Kings dug deep and earned their first win of the series 2-1.
