The Capitals will look to close the gap in the first round series with the Powell River Kings on Tuesday night, when the two teams play Game 3 at the Island Savings Centre.
Powell River took Game 1 on Friday night by a 4-2 score at the Hap Parker Arena, powered by 38 shots on goal and a hat trick from Jonny Evans, their regular season leading scorer. Carter Turnbull had the other Kings goal, while Max Newton and Michael Montambault both buried for the Capitals. There were 12 players making their BCHL playoff debut for the Caps in Game 1.
The Kings followed that with a 4-3 win in Game 2 on Saturday night. Goals from Curtis McCarrick, Ben Berard and Callum Volpe had the home team out to a 3-0 lead by 5:33 of the second. The Caps responded with two goals of their own in the middle frame from Ben Verrall and Ayden MacDonald, both coming on the powerplay. Tristan Mullin stretched the Kings lead to 4-2 with an early third period goal, and that would be the eventual game winner. George Sennott also scored for the Capitals in the second half of the third period.
After Powell River led 38-15 in shots in Game 1, Cowichan led 32-31 in Game 2. The Kings led 6-1 in shots to start to second period, and at that point led 18-12 in shots in the game. After that, the Caps led 9-2 in shots to conclude the middle frame, and in total the rest of the way they led 20-11 in the shots department. The Capitals also were 2-5 on the powerplay in Game 2, after scoring one goal on the man-advantage in their previous six games.
Now the series shifts to Duncan for Game 3 and 4, on Tuesday and Wednesday night, and would as well for a potential Game 5 on Thursday night.
Puck drop on Game 3 at the Island Savings Centre is at 7:00 pm.
Who’s Hot:
Capitals: Ayden MacDonald has points in nine straight games and 11 of his past 12… John Sladic and Michael Montambault each have points in four straight games… Ben Verrall has points in back-to-back games… Mitch Skapski has points in five of his past six, while Max Newton has points in three of his past four…
Kings: Jonny Evans has points in back-to-back games and, between both teams, leads all players with four points in this series… Carter Turnbull has points in four straight games and in 10 of his past 11… Cam Donaldson and Tristan Mullin each have points in three straight… Kyle Betts and Ben Berard each have points in six of their past seven games… Carmine Buono has points in three of his past four…
To Cap Things Off: All of Max Newton, Michael Montambault, Ben Verrall and George Sennott scored the first playoff goal of their respective BCHL careers over the weekend in Powell River… Ayden MacDonald has 14 career playoff points, the most among all current Caps; his 13 career playoff games are second only to Chris Harpur (14 games)… The Capitals have won three of their past four at home, and in that time have allowed only eight goals-against… They’ve also allowed only one powerplay-goal-against in their past four home games (11-12, 91.6%)…
Colton's Call: 