First-place Vees on road to face Smoke Eaters

The Penticton Vees made themselves right at home on the road.

Jackson Keane’s goal in the dying seconds of the first period set the Vees on course for a 4-1 victory over the Trail Smoke Eaters in BCHL action on Wednesday night at the Cominco Arena. Jared Nash, Jack Barnes and Wyatt Sloboshan also scored as the Vees (34-10-2-3) went 5-1 on a six-game road trip and stayed in first place in the Interior Division, two points ahead of the Vernon Vipers and three ahead of the Wenatchee Wild.

Nolan Hildebrand, starting with Adam Scheel nursing a minor injury, made 26 saves as the Vees improved to 12-10-1 in 2018.

Braeden Tuck spoiled Hildebrand’s bid for his first shutout of the season with 14:43 to play.

Adam Marcoux made 38 saves for the Smokies (31-14-4-1), who stayed in fourth place and fell eight points behind the Vees.

It was the start of a home-and-home series that concludes with the Smokies visiting the South Okanagan Events Centre on Friday at 7 p.m. The Vees also host Vernon in a huge matchup on Saturday at 6 p.m.

The Vees outshot Trail 20-6 in the first period and finally broke through with 6.7 seconds left. Lukas Sillinger got a low shot on Marcoux and the rebound caromed in off Keane’s skate.

Nash made it 2-0 at 1:44 of the second period, picking off a cross-ice pass and race in alone to beat Marcoux with a nifty forehand-backhand deke.

Barnes scored his first goal since November, and sixth of the season, on the power play at 2:03 of the third. Jonny Tychonick made a slick feed to set him up with Jordan Henderson also getting a helper.

Trail got that one back on a power play of their own at 5:17 as Connor Welsh’s shot bounced off Tuck and between Hildebrand’s pads.

The Smokies got Marcoux to the bench with 3:11 left but Sloboshan finished it with an empty-net goal with 1:56 to go.

Scheel is expected to be available on the weekend for the Vees. Trail was without arguably the league’s top forward, as Kale Howarth sat out the first of a three-game suspension. Howarth will not be able to play against the Vees on Friday either.

Vipers 4 Chiefs 1: Brett Stapley scored twice as Vernon moved back into second place in the Interior with a win over visiting Chilliwack.

Michael Young and Cameron Trott also scored and Jimmy Lambert added two assists for Vernon (33-13-1-4), who played for the first time since last Wednesday.

Anthony Yamnitsky made 28 saves for Vernon, who led 1-0 and 4-1 at the period breaks.

Daniel Chenard made 33 stops for the struggling Chiefs (22-21-3-3), who are hosting this season’s RBC Cup national championship in May.