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Salmon Kings Let Lead Slip Away

May 2, 2008 - ECHL (ECHL)
Victoria Salmon Kings News Release


Victoria, BC - The Salmon Kings and Utah Grizzlies met in Game 3 of their Best-of-Seven National Conference Semi-final tonight at the E-Center in West Valley City, Utah. Victoria tied the series at 1-1 with a 6-1 victory on home ice on Sunday evening.

The Salmon Kings jumped out of the gate quickly with a power play marker when Kiel McLeod cut across the blue line and found Matt Kelly at the left face-off dot. Kelly then slipped a pass through the slot to Milan Gajic who blasted it in the open net counting the Kings' first goal and first shot. Utah goaltender Nathan Lawson had lost his footing on the play as the ice at the E-Center had caused several players to fall in the first period. Victoria scored on their second shot of the game as well. Ash Goldie brought a hard forecheck and was able to find his brother Wes at the top of the left circle. Wes fired a shot past Lawson for the 2-0 lead. Utah responded when Ryan Kinasewich burst down the right side and placed a shot past Salmon Kings' goalie Julien Ellis. The Salmon Kings led 2-1 after the first period.

Victoria came out on fire in the second potting three goals in the frame's first 5:27 seconds. McLeod started it off when he scored his first of the playoffs. Moments later Marc-Andre Bernier and Kevin Estrada came down on a two-on-one. Estrada slid the puck to Bernier who then used Estrada as a screen and wired the shot past Lawson. That would end the Grizzlies' goaltender's evening as Mike Mole took over. Mole was welcomed in an unkind manner by Victoria when Milan Gajic took up residence behind the net. Gajic waited for McLeod to come down he left side and he slid a pass out that the Captain roofed for the 5-1 lead. Utah regrouped late in the period. Keith Johnson found himself alone at the top of the right faceoff circle and waited for a screen to form in front of Ellis before depositing the puck top corner glove side with 1:26 remaining. The second period scoring wasn't over as Utah would be the benefactor of the bad ice. Off a faceoff win in Grizzlies' territory Dylan Yeo caught an edge and hit the ice. That allowed a two-on-one for Utah. Keith Johnson sent a perfect saucer pass to Kinasewich who popped it past Ellis with 15 seconds remaining. The Kings led 5-3 after 40 minutes of play.

The Grizzlies momentum continued right off the hop in the third. James Sanford pinched down from the right point and picked up the puck below the hash marks. He dangled along the goal line before moving two strides out and snapped a shot in to make 5-4 just 2:20 into the period. Off the next faceoff the Grizzlies gained the zone and a goal mouth scramble ensued. Johnson found the puck in the maze of bodies and pushed it in to tie the game 5-5 just 14 seconds later. Utah would take the lead seven minutes into the period when Rob Sirianni got the puck behind the Kings' net and flipped up and over the net. Standing on the doorstep was Mike Haley who batted the puck down and fired it in for the 6-5 lead. Mole shut the door the rest of the way and Kinasewich added an empty net goal. Grizzlies 7 Salmon Kings 5.

Victoria went 1/5=20% on the power play and Utah went 1/4=25% with the man advantage. Utah out shot Victoria 37-28. Utah leads the series 2-1 .

The Salmon Kings and the Grizzlies meet in Game 4 on Saturday night at 6:00 p.m. from the E-Center in West Valley City, Utah. Game 5 follows on Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m. PDT. Catch all the action on the B2 Networks by logging onto www.salmonkings.com. If sixth and seventh games are necessary they will be play at the Save-on-Foods Memorial centre on May 6th and 7th.



ECHL Stories from May 2, 2008


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