The Vernon Vipers and Salmon Arm SilverBacks will both look to take commanding 3-1 series leads tonight on the road.
Vernon (2) and Penticton (1) — 7:05 PM, South Okanagan Events Centre
Any hangover from Vernon's first-round bye seems to have worn off after consecutive strong performances.
On Tuesday, Cory Kane broke a third period deadlock with just 2:34 remaining in regulation to seal a 3-2 Vipers win. Kellen Jones and Kyle Bigos had scored first period tallies for Vernon, who received 29 saves and a first-star performance from Andrew Hammond in the victory.
Garrett Milan replies with a pair of power-play tallies for Penticton, opening the scoring just 1:15 into the first period and scoring again late in the second. Sean Bonar got the call in net for the Vees and stopped 27 of 30 shots in a losing effort.
Tonight, the Vees will have another opportunity to grab a win on home ice; and they'll need to in order to avoid falling behind 3-1 in the series when it shifts back to Vernon on Friday.
Salmon Arm (2) at Westside (1) — 7:00 PM, Royal LePage Place
Warriors back-up netminder Devon Murtagh stepped up in the abscence of starter Kevin Jebson on Tuesday night, leading Westside to a 3-2 home ice win over Salmon Arm. Murtagh's 44 saves in a first-star performance helped draw his team within one with the opportunity to even the series tonight.
After a scoreless first, the Warriors took a 2-0 second period lead on goals by Alex grieve and Trevor Bailey. But a quick set of Conor Morrison and Keenan Desmet tallies put the SilverBacks even heading in to the final 20 minutes.
Chad Gehon played offensive hero on Tuesday, scoring the winner at the 11:05 mark of the third period.
Michael Quinn picked up a pair of assists for Westside while Morrison contributed a two-point effort for Salmon Arm.
SilverBacks netminder Bryan Gillis was strong in net, turning aside 32 of 35 shots but ultimately taking the loss.
