Tuesday November 10, 2015- Submitted by Mario Annicchiarico / Times Colonist
VICTORIA 5
POWELL RIVER 2
Better late than never.
Due to the ferry crossing, the Victoria Grizzlies were a little tardy in arriving for their rare Tuesday night B.C. Hockey League encounter in Powell River against the host Kings. But it didn’t seem to matter.
After falling behind 1-0, the visiting Grizzlies managed to claw out their fifth straight victory with a 5-2 finish at Hap Parker Arena.
Smooth sailing, indeed, after a rather rough ride in the first 17 games of the season. The third-hottest team in the league — behind Penticton’s amazing 20th straight victory on Tuesday in Trail and Chilliwack’s six consecutive wins — recorded just its second road triumph of 2015-16 to improve to 8-12-0-2.
Of those eight wins, three have now come against Powell River as the Grizzlies defeated the Kings 5-2 and 3-1 last month in Victoria.
Austin Kamer made it 1-0 Kings midway through the first period on a power-play goal, but Luc Soares collected his first for the Grizzlies just over three minutes later as the teams headed to their dressing rooms tied 1-1.
Tyler Welsh, Colby Livingstone and Alex Peck all scored in the middle frame — Peck’s coming while skating short-handed — to give the Grizzlies a 4-1 lead, before Curtis McCarrick cut into that advantage for the Kings.
Welsh, Keyvan Mokhtari and Nick Guiney all kept their point streaks alive at five games. Welsh now has 14 points in his last 13 games, while Mokhtari has 13 in that same span. However, Welsh left the game late in the second period on what the refs called a five-minute major and game misconduct for interference on Kings forward Nick Halagian.
Mokhtari added an empty-net goal as Powel River falls to 11-10-0-0 on the season.
Matthew Galajda made 21 saves for the win for the Grizzlies, while Jeff Smith stopped 33 for Powell River.
The win moves Victoria into a tie with the Alberni Valley Bulldogs. The Bulldogs have two games in hand on the Grizzlies, who will head to Coquitlam, Merritt and Trail on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
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