The Trail Smoke Eaters win their second in a row as they doubled up on the Cranbrook Bucks winning 4-2 on Saturday night inside the Trail Memorial Centre.
The Smoke Eaters, looking to leave home ice with a 2-1 series lead got things started the right way as they opened the scoring in this one. Nearing the halfway mark of the first period it was Trail native Jacob Smith who made it 1-0 as he took the pass from Brady Hunter and beat the Cranbrook goaltender short side to make it 1-0.
The Bucks would answer before the period was out with a powerplay goal, breaking the Smoke Eaters streak of 15 straight kills. Dane Dowiak, who added his second goal of the pre season, beat Logan Terness with a shot from the slot late in the first period to level the game at 1-1 heading to the intermission.
The Bucks then jumped out to a 2-1 lead with an early second period goal from Jarrod Smith. A strong drive to the net by Hayden Gelbard led to a rebound and a loose puck in the crease that was tapped in by Smith to make it 2-1 Bucks. The visitors then looked to be heading to the third period with a lead intact before two late second period penalties derailed that. Firstly it was Noah Wakeford who tied the game up at two just 15s into the man advantage, as he knocked the puck out of the air past Bucks netminder Nathan Airey for the tying goal.
The Smoke Eaters then got another late powerplay and left it till the final seconds of the period to take the lead. With time winding down Connor Sweeney turned and fired the puck from the left wall towards the net where Wakeford and Chase Dafoe found the puck in front of Airey, and finally poked it past him with Dafoe getting the final push to make it 3-2. Dafoe’s goal, his fourth of the pre season would stand as the game winner.
Despite being outshot 22-15 the Smoke Eaters took a 3-2 lead to the third period, where they kept things simple en-route to the victory. Cody Schiavon would close out an impressive night of 1G and 2A as the made it 4-2 with under 8 minutes to go in the third.
The Smoke Eaters now take a 2-1 Kootenay Cup series lead to Cranbrook for the next four games starting next Friday October 30th at 6pm. That game may be pushed back due to the ongoing arena upgrades in Cranbrook, so stay tuned for news on the next Smoke Eaters game.
Three Stars
1st: TRA – Cody Schaivon 1G-2A
2nd: TRA – Connor Sweeney 2A
3rd CRA – Briggs Gammill 1A
Fortis Energy Player of the Game: TRA – Quinn Disher 1A
