Moore Frustrates Vipers:

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Moore frustrates Vipers

by Don Klepp | Added 2011-01-26

In a sterling performance at Vernon’s Wesbild centre on Tuesday, Salmon Arm’s Kris Moore stopped all 45 Viper shots as his Silverbacks won, 3-0.

Moore was especially sharp in the first period, making several very difficult saves among the 19 shots he faced. Some of his best saves came during a two-minute Viper five-on-three power play that turned out to be pivotal in the contest.

Buoyed by their successful penalty kill, the Silverbacks worked their way back into the game. Roughly a minute after the penalties ended, Brett Knowles put the visitors on the board.

Knowles’s shot from the high slot came off his stick much slower than goalie Kirby Halcrow expected. Halcrow kicked out his right pad before the soft shot arrived and the puck slipped between his pads.

Still, the Vipers kept attacking and Moore continued to frustrate their efforts, cutting down shooting angles and anticipating deflections. He had some luck, too, as several Viper shots bounced just wide.

Moore allowed few rebounds and invariably those loose pucks were cleared by the physical Salmon Arm defencemen.

At one point, Patrick McGillis’s shot looked like it was going to score with Moore down and out, but defenceman Clinton Atkinson stepped in front of the net to stop the puck with his stomach.

In the first period, the Vipers were unsuccessful on four power plays, even though they generated four gilt-edged scoring chances with the man advantage.

The successful penalty killing continued in the second period, as each team had two power plays, but came up empty. In this period, Salmon Arm had 8 scoring chances while the Vipers had 6.

The Silverbacks cashed in two of their chances, starting with David Killip’s determined effort at 7:18.

After Brett Knowles’s slap pass had ended up behind the Viper net, Killip beat his man to the puck and bulled his way out front. Halcrow stopped Killip’s first shot but the Viper defence didn’t tie up his stick, so he was able to whack the rebound past Halcrow.

At 11:14, Jarryd Ten Vaanholt found a loose puck in the high slot and ripped a low wrist shot past a screened Kirby Halcrow on the stick side.

And that was that. For Viper fans, the home team came agonizingly close three times on a late second period power play, but each time the puck trickled past the post.

The Silverbacks closed the door in the third period, as each team managed 10 shots and just three scoring chances.

The goalies shone in the third. Halcrow gloved Paul Jersey’s backhand from five feet and made two fine saves with his right pad, while Moore absolutely robbed Patrick McGillis after a turnover in the Silverback end.

Late in the game, David Robinson almost ruined the shutout bid with a high flip-in that bounced strangely in front of Moore. The goalie fell awkwardly trying to handle the bounce and somehow the puck lodged under his left skate.

The Silverbacks have now taken six of the seven games the two teams have played this year, even though the Vipers have outshot and out chanced the ‘Backs in six of those games.

Kris Moore posted his first BCHL shutout. It was the first time the Vipers have been blanked in their last 102 regular season games, dating back to October 3, 2009.