Salmon Kings Advance With Overtime Win

Published on April 23, 2008 under ECHL (ECHL)
Victoria Salmon Kings News Release


Victoria, BC - Tonight, the Victoria Salmon Kings played Game 6 of their Best-of-Seven National Conference Quarterfinal series. Bakersfield scored a victory on Saturday night in with a 5-4 win in California.

Bakersfield jumped out first when Andrew Ianiero scored his first of the night when he tipped the puck in past Victoria goaltender Billy Thompson. Assists went to Mark Derlago and Steve Slonina. The Condors jumped out to a two goal lead when a strange bounce cost the Salmon Kings. Tim Konsorada fired a shot into the glass behind Thompson, but it hit the partition bounced directly out to the front of the net where it hit Bakersfield's Ryan Salvis in the chest and bounced into the goal. Marc-Andre Bernier was the first to put the Salmon Kings on the board when he fired a shot past Yutaka Fukufuji's on his left side. Darryl Lloyd assisted on the goal at 11:39. Bakersfield fought back with a third goal in the frame at the 14:40 mark. A three-on-two charge by the Condors resulted in a beautiful three-way passing play finished off by Kevin Truelson to lift the Condors lead to 3-1. Ianiero and Derlago drew the assists. The Kings' netted a late goal when Chris St. Jacques scored on the power play slapping it past Fukufuji. Matt Kelly and Patrick Coloumbe assisted on the power play goal.

The Salmon Kings tied the score at the beginning of the second period when Paul Ballantyne snapped a shot past Fukufuji for his first goal of the playoffs. The Condors knocked in their fourth goal of the night when Alexander Naurov put it past Thompson with assists from Truelson and Ianiero. At the end of the second period it was 4-3 Bakersfield.

Intensity poured from both teams as they exploded onto the ice for the third period. During a 4-on-4 Victoria collected their fourth goal of the night when Bernier stole the puck and tied the score with a swift shot from the point. Within a minute, the Kings added another goal to take a 5-4 lead when Ryan Wade fired a streamlined shot past Fukufuji. Wes Goldie and Kelly were credited with the assists. Once again the Condors fought hard to keep their initial pace. A scurry around the Salmon Kings net ended with Ianiero scoring his second of the night and the Condors' fifth. Assists were from Truelson and Reagan Leslie. The Kings' dominated the shot count with by a 57-23 mark, but the score was tied 5-5 at the end of regulation.

The 6,701 fans in attendance cheered as the teams took to the ice in overtime. With the Salmon Kings on the penalty kill Kevin Estrada picked up a loose puck in the neutral zone and fought past a Condor defender. He then slid the puck to Ash Goldie who burst down the left side. Goldie was in tight on Fukufuji so he slid the puck past the down-and-out Condors' netminder and flipped a backhander up and over for the series winning goal. Salmon Kings 6 Condors 5 in overtime. Victoria wins the series 4-2. The win clinched the club's first ever post season series win.

The Salmon Kings win moves the team into the National Conference Semi-Finals versus the Utah Grizzlies. The series begins Friday, April 25th at the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre at 7:05 p.m. Game 2 goes on Sunday evening at 5:05 p.m. Tickets for Round 2 go on sale tomorrow morning. Call 220-7889 or visit www.salmonkings.com for ticket information.

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