Hurricanes Defeat Vees 5-2 to Open BC Swing
Penticton, BC – The Lethbridge Hurricanes ended a five-game road losing streak on Wednesday with a 5-2 victory over the Penticton Vees at the South Okanagan Events Centre.
The ‘Canes entered with a 2-7-0-0 road record this season as they played the second of a seven-game road trip with their first of six-straight through the BC Division. It marked the first ever meeting between the Hurricanes and Vees while newcomer Kayden Longley made his Lethbridge debut. Penticton came out firing to open the first period. The Vees kept the ‘Canes pinned in their own zone for the first five minutes of the game and peppered Koen Cleaver who was excellent in the game. Brittan Alstead had a glorious opportunity to open the scoring when he was sprung on a breakaway by a beautiful pass from Ethan Weber, but Cleaver stood tall making a great save with the left pad to keep the game scoreless. Late in the period, the Hurricanes struck first when Luke Cozens redirected a Nathan Maloney point shot past Andrew Reyelts for his team-leading 13th goal of the season putting Lethbridge ahead 1-0; Matteo Fabrizi picked up the second assist on the goal as the ‘Canes held a 1-0 lead after the first period despite being outshot 18-6.
Early in the second period, the Hurricanes added to their lead when Gavin Lesiuk – who returned after missing the previous three games with injury – tipped home his fifth goal of the season to put Lethbridge ahead 2-0 just 1:49 into the game; Maloney and Longley earned the assists on the power play goal. Just over two-minutes later, however, the Vees got on the board with a power play goal of their own when Alstead buried a centering pass from overage forward Brady Birnie to cut the ‘Canes lead to 2-1. Lethbridge restored their two-goal lead at the 14:14 mark when Logan Wormald knocked down a puck at centre before moving in on a two-on-one and beating Reyelts for his 10th goal of the year to make it a 3-1 game. The Hurricanes were outshot 13-9 in the middle frame.
Penticton pulled to within a goal early in the third period when Vees’ captain Nolan Stevenson had a point shot deflect past Cleaver for his second goal of the season cutting the Lethbridge lead to 3-2; Jacob Kvasnicka and Ryden Evers earned the helpers on the goal. The Hurricanes silenced the Vees comeback attempt just over two-minutes later when Mykolas Skadauskas fired a pass cross-ice to Fabrizi who buried his first goal with Lethbridge rifling a shot just under the crossbar to make it a 4-2 game; Kade Duell earned the second assist on the goal. Penticton pulled the goaltender with over three-minutes remaining in regulation. The Vees turned the puck over at the Hurricanes blueline on a steal by Wormald who started up ice but was hauled down by a Penticton defender; after deliberation, Wormald was credited with an empty-net goal to seal a 5-2 victory for the ‘Canes. Penticton outshot Lethbridge 11-4 in the final period.
The Hurricanes were outshot 42-19 in the game by the Vees. Lethbridge went 1/2 on the power play while Penticton was 1/4 with the extra man.
Three stars of the game were:
1) ‘Canes – #30 Koen Cleaver (40-saves)
2) ‘Canes – #23 Matteo Fabrizi (1 goal, 1 assist)
3) Vees – #83 Jacob Kvasnicka (2 assists)
The win for the Hurricanes ended a five-game road losing streak as it improved their record to 3-7-0-0 away from home this season. Lethbridge improved to 3-3-0-0 in their last six games with the victory and 1-1-0-0 in the first two games of their season-long seven-game road trip. The ‘Canes overall record leaped to 6-14-0-1 on the season.
The Hurricanes continue their BC Division trip on Friday when they visit Shane Smith and the Kelowna Rockets at 8:00pm MT before visiting the Kamloops Blazers at 7:00pm MT on Saturday. Lethbridge returns to the VisitLethbridge.com Arena on Friday, November 29th when they welcome the Moose Jaw Warriors at 7:00pm. Tickets for the game can be purchased by visiting the VisitLethbridge.com Arena Ticket Centre, by calling 403-329-SEAT (7328) or online at www.visitlethbridgearena.ca.
