Salmon Kings Fall in Game 2

April 6, 2011 - ECHL (ECHL)
Victoria Salmon Kings News Release


Victoria, BC- In a Tuesday night matchup at the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre the Victoria Salmon Kings took on the Bakersfield Condors in Game 2 of their best-of-five Western Conference Quarterfinal series. The Salmon Kings came into the game with the 1-0 series lead. Victoria started David Shantz in net, while the Condors looked to Brian Stewart.

In the opening minutes of the game, Victoria's Milan Gajic came into the offensive zone and made a nice toe drag move around the Condors' defender before getting a shot on net that Stewart turned aside. Bakersfield countered back up the ice which saw Erik Burgdoerfer get the puck at the top of the right circle. The defender took a quick shot that made it through Shantz at 1:58 to open the scoring. The Salmon Kings answered right back at 5:23 on Chad Klassen's second of the playoffs. Ryan Dingle had the puck at the left point and made a crisp pass that found the stick of Klassen to the right of the net for the tap in. Following the Klassen goal, both teams started to pick up the physical play.

Near the midway point of the period, Victoria forward Matt Butcher broke into the Bakersfield zone and drove to the net before finding Adam Taylor in the high slot. The Victoria forward one-timed the puck off the left post to keep it tied. On the play Butcher was able to draw a holding call. While on the man advantage, the Salmon Kings took the lead at 15:10. From the left point Klassen fed a cross zone pass to defenseman Ryan Turek, who then found Milan Gajic just to the left of the crease. The Salmon Kings' forward tapped the puck into the open net to complete the tic-tac-toe play for his second of the playoffs. Seconds before the break, Victoria's Kiel McLeod received a pass in the high slot and fired the puck off the crossbar and out of play. The Salmon Kings carried the momentum into the first intermission as they held a 2-1 lead.

The first eight minutes of the middle period saw both teams settle into a defensive style of play. That changed after Taylor broke in on a breakaway, but the forward could not corral the puck in time to get a shot off. After the play Taylor mixed it up with the Condors' goaltender, which saw a crowd of Bakersfield players gather around Taylor. Minutes later after Butcher bumped into Stewart, Condors' player Bobby Robins dropped the gloves with the Salmon Kings' forward. With just under five minutes remaining in the frame Bakersfield received a two man advantage for a minute and a half.

Several key defensive plays by the penalty killers and a couple of quality saves by Shantz helped Victoria kill off the penalty and shift the momentum. After the Condors power play, Shantz continued his strong play as he made several tough saves on point shots. Only minutes later Bakersfield would score the tying marker after Stephane Goulet found a loose puck in front of Shantz that just crossed the line at 18:14. Victoria looked to quickly take the lead back after Gajic came in down the right side and circled the net before putting it towards the goal. The puck trickled through a crowd and sat in the crease before it was put in the net by Rob Hennigar. The referee was quick to call the goal back due to illegal contact on the goaltender. The teams took a 2-2 tie into the third period.

On an early Bakersfield man advantage in the third period Guillaume Lefebvre found Pascal Morency in the slot, who put the puck past Shantz at 3:42 to grab the early third period lead. The Condors stretched their lead at 9:07 on another power play as Morency tapped in a loose puck behind Shantz. Morency completed the hat-trick at 13:52 after he put a shot past Shantz from the high slot. The Salmon Kings looked to start the comeback after Ryan Dingle had a breakaway at 16:52. The Victoria forward deked then went five-hole on Stewart to make it a two goal game. The Salmon Kings pulled Shantz with two minutes remaining, but the Condors added an empty net marker for the victory. Condors 6 Salmon Kings 3. The best-of-five series is now tied 1-1.

Victoria went 1/4 = 25.0% on the power play, while Bakersfield was 2/8 = 25.0%. The Condors outshot the Salmon Kings 44-34.

Game 3 between the Salmon Kings and Condors will be played in Bakersfield on Friday April 8th with game time at 7:00 pm. Game 4 will go Saturday April 9th at 7:00 pm. If necessary, Game 5 will be played at the Rabobank Arena on Monday April 11th at 7:00 pm. To watch or listen live to Salmon Kings hockey visit www.salmonkings.com.



ECHL Stories from April 6, 2011


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