Kings Bounce Back To Even Series:

This is posted on the Vipers website:

Kings bounce back to even series

by Don Klepp | Added 2010-04-03

As in Friday’s opening game of the Fred Page Cup, Vernon and Powell River engaged in a tight-checking affair at the Wesbild Centre on Saturday. This time, however, the Kings rebounded with a 3-1 win to tie the series at 1-1.

Cody Rainaldi’s scintillating third period goal decided the game. Rainaldi took a stretch pass from first star Justin Dasilva at centre and blew by Curtis Gedig en route to Graeme Gordon’s net. He then swept by the sprawling netminder and tucked the puck in the corner.

The play capped a strong game by Dasilva, who had set up the Kings’ second period equalizer on the power play. The 6’5” Cambridge, Ontario product fired in a point shot that Gordon kicked off to the side. Unfortunately for Gordon, Matt Garbowsky (another Ontarian) was coming in at that the same angle and Garbowsky snapped it home.

The Kings won that second period with a strong effort as they out shot the Vipers 14-9 and had six scoring chances to the Vipers’ four. A key component of the Kings’ success was a dominant penalty kill, shortly before the Garbowsky line drew the penalty that led to the tying goal.

The Garbowsky marker was the first power play goal the Vipers had surrendered at home in the playoffs. In the first, they had denied the Kings scoring chances on two King power plays.

Meanwhile, the Vipers had scored on their first opportunity with the man advantage. At 6:36 of the first period, Connor Jones weaved through the Kings and put a backhand under Josh Watson. Connor’s effort was set up by Sahir Gill, who had won a battle at the Powell River blue line.

Starting in the first period, the Vipers and Kings dished out a series of hard body checks. In the physical department, the Kings were led by Dasilva and Reid Campbell, while most of the Vipers joined in the hard hitting. The final totals in a spirited game had the Vipers with 46 hits and the Kings with 32.

In the third period, the Vipers’ desperation grew as the clock wore down, and they generated several chances that Watson fought hard to stop. The Pennsylvanian was helped by his mates, who collapsed to the net to tie up Viper sticks and take away rebounds.

Finally, Ben Schmidt’s strong work along the boards freed up a loose puck that Mitch Labreche slid into the empty Viper net at 19:34.

The two teams will leave early Sunday morning for the 12-hour journey to Powell River in preparation for games three and four on Monday and Tuesday. The King’s split in Vernon means that there will a fifth game in Vernon on Thursday.