Powell River Kings survived a tough seven-game series against Victoria Grizzlies by winning a 4-1 thriller at Hap Parker Arena last Wednesday.
The successful conclusion of their post-season opener allowed them to move on to face Surrey Eagles who toppled Langley Chiefs in six games in the other semifinal.
Buoyed by a raucous standing ovation from over 1,200 excited fans on Friday, Powell River roared out of the Coastal Conference playoff gate to a 3-0 lead after the first period.
Brendan Hawryluk, Andrew Pettitt and Chad Niddery, with a superb shorthanded goal, got the jump on Surrey and they looked to be in complete control.
Control, however, is probably the one thing that has escaped the Kings so far in the playoffs and unlike the regular season, they haven’t looked as sharp on the closing outside of the ledger.
Surrey narrowed the gap in the second period with two unanswered goals and in the third came within a hair of tying the game.
Fortunately for the Kings, Michael Garteig was in top form and when he was called upon, made the saves necessary to preserve a 4-2 win.
Matt Garbowsky got the Kings’ fourth goal into an empty net for a 1-0 lead in the series but coach Kent Lewis warned of a long road ahead if the team couldn’t put in a 60-minute game.
“Good first period but awful after that,” he said. “We only gave them five shots in the second but we turned the puck over consistently and we were playing pretty and we’re not happy about that.”
Game two on Saturday started much the same when league most valuable player, Garbowsky, gave them a 1-0 lead after the first period. Kings had a strong edge in play and looked poised to take both games at home in the series.
Eagles, however, struck for the only goal of the second period on the powerplay and then went on to win 2-1 at 0:40 of the first overtime period.
The outcome, an overtime loss in game two, was eerily similar to the Victoria series, but the Kings had to put that out of their minds when they travelled to Surrey for games three and four.
In game three on Monday at South Surrey Arena, Kings struck for three unanswered goals but again struggled in the third period.
Niddery, Jon Jutzi and Bond Hawryluk tallied for the Kings and they cruised through the first two periods with a dominant performance and 28-13 margin in shots on goal.
Defending a lead through the regular season was a trademark of the Kings but they’ve been missing that killer instinct so far in the playoffs.
An offensive end tripping penalty led to a powerplay goal at 5:51 for Surrey and before the Kings knew it they were on the short end of a 26-6 shot deficit in the third period.
Eagles closed the gap to 3-2 with another one at 16:11 and that got the crowd into it for the last four hectic minutes.
Kings were on the ropes and relied heavily on the heroics of Garteig who had to make a couple of spectacular saves right up to the buzzer.
With seconds to go, the league’s top goaltender found himself face to face with its top scorer, Bradley McGowan, and Garteig won the battle with a clutch save.
The ragged ending notwithstanding, Kings turned their powerplay woes around in this one when they broke out of a zero for 10 slump to score twice in five opportunities.
Also, on a positive note, it was one of the most complete games of the playoffs so far and they continue to work hard to get back to their regular season form.
The two teams met again Tuesday with the result unknown at press time but regardless there is a game five set for 7 pm, Thursday, March 24 at Hap Parker Arena.
