Vees keep rolling, beat Merritt
The Penticton Vees still haven’t tasted defeat in 2018.
Captain Owen Sillinger scored twice and Wyatt Sloboshan logged three assists as the Vees defeated the Merritt Centennials 4-1 in front of 2,824 fans on Friday night at the South Okanagan Events Centre.
Jonny Tychonick and Chris Klack also scored and Jordan Henderson earned two helpers for the Vees (28-9-2-3), who have six wins and a tie so far in the new year.
Zach Court replied for the Centennials (1722-2-1), who have lost five times in as many meetings with the Vees this season.
Nolan Hildebrand made 27 saves for the Vees, who won 4-1 on Thursday in Prince George and play against tonight at 6 p.m. at the SOEC against the Trail Smoke Eaters.
Jacob Berger stopped 31 shots for Merritt, who fell into last place in the Interior after Salmon Arm beat visiting Chilliwack 4-3.
The Vees are now just two points behind the Vernon Vipers for first place in the Interior Division, with the Vees holding three games in hand. Vernon lost 2-1 at Prince George.
The Vees carried the play throughout the first period and got the only goal as Tychonick’s high wrist shot from the point through a screen eluded Berger at 5:13. Sloboshan earned the lone assist.
Merritt tied the game at 8:32 of the second period, just one second after a power play expired. Hildebrand made a nice save off Joey Berkopec, but the puck deflected off Tychonick right to Court who blasted it into the open side.
Sillinger put Penticton back on top 64 seconds into the third period, backhanding home a rebound from the slot with Sloboshan and Jordan Henderson assisting.
It was the same three players involved exactly seven minutes later as Sillinger knocked in a rebound on the blocker side from Henderson and Sloboshan to make it 3-1.
The Vees, already depleted by injuries, lost second leading scorer Dakota Boutin midway through the final frame as he was levelled on an open-ice hit by Zach Zorn.
Merritt got Berger to the bench for an extra skater with 1:30 to go, but Hildebrand and the Vees held the fort. Klack drained a long shot into an empty net to finish the scoring with 13 seconds left.
Sillinger, Sloboshan and Henderson were the three stars.
The Vees are expecting a huge crowd tonight in the annual “Pink in the Rink” game against Trail.
Spruce Kings 2 Vipers 1: Former Vees forward Ben Brar scored the winning goal at 7:49 of the second period as Prince George beat Vernon.
Ben Poisson tied the game 1:30 earlier, while newcomer Derek Brown scored for Vernon (29-11-1-4) in the first period.
Evan DeBrouwer made 24 saves for P.G. (22-14-4-4), while Ty Taylor made 14 stops for Vernon, who are back in action Sunday afternoon in Coquitlam.
Warriors 2 Smoke Eaters 1: Parm Dhaliwal scored twice as West Kelowna surprised the Smokies in Trail.
Andre Ghantous scored with 8:10 to cut the deficit to 2-1 for Trail (26-14-3-1).
Nik Amundrud made 29 saves for the Warriors (22-20-1-1), who had been blanked in their previous two games.
The Warriors welcome the Salmon Arm Silverbacks to Royal LePage Place tonight at 7 p.m.