Kings get swept on mainland to begin road trip
Weekend Recap is presented by Iris Optometry. Photo by Island Images Photography
Coming off a 5-2 win at home the Kings returned to the road to commence 4 straight away games. It would start with a doubleheader in the lower mainland beginning with Coquitlam Friday night.
The Kings would receive a big boost to their lineup as goaltender Tresor Wotton and defenceman Caleb Bentham, both returned from preseason injuries to make their season debuts. It would be a rude welcome to Wotton in the net as the Express came out hot and would score 3 times in the first 15 minutes with two of them coming on a breakaway to take an early 3-0 lead. This would also be the first time this season, the Kings have given up the opening goal. The Kings would mange to get one in the final minute of the period when Adam Mendelson finished off a great passing play in close with Noah Eyre and Brendan Giles. The goal would be Mendelson’s second of the year, while Giles pick up his first career BCHL point.
There would be no goals in the second, however the Kings turned their game around after a rough opening frame and would start to take control. After being out shot 15-9 in the first, they would outshoot the Express 13-7 in the second as they still trailed by two going into the third. Once again the Kings took control in the third and would find themselves on a 4 minute power play. They would convert on the first half on Anthony Yu’s third of the season through a screen to get them within one with 13 minutes to play. The Kings were unable to score on the second half on the power play but still created chances, with the best one coming on a breakaway from Thomas Belzil, but he was denied by Express goaltender Ethan Simcoe who made 31 saves. The Kings would get a chance with the extra attacker but were unsuccessful as the Kings fell 3-2.
Despite a tough first period Tresor Wotton would impress in first game as a King stopping 24 shots as the Kings held their opponent to under 30 shots for the first time this season.
Saturday the Kings would look to take their second and third periods in Coquitlam and carry it over to Langley as they took on the Rivermen for the first time this year.
The Kings wouldn’t get off to the start they were opening for as it was a dominate start for the Rivermen, and if it wasn’t for Owen Crudale the Kings would’ve been down big early. The Kings would kill off two penalties in the process and were able to keep the game scoreless. Like the night before the Kings would find life late in the period as they found themselves on the power play which was the best in the BCHL coming into the game, and they showed why they were at the top. Anthony Yu would send a puck on goal and the rebound was knocked in by Alexi Van Houtte-Cachero to give the Kings a fortunate 1-0 lead after they were being outshot 22-5. After giving up the opening goal the Rivermen got themselves into more penalty trouble and the Kings would have a long 5 on 3 to start the second.
Up two men to start the period, the Kings wasted no time extending the lead to two 39 seconds into the period on Van Houtte-Cachero’s second of the game. After success on the power play, how would the Kings respond 5 on 5 which Langley was dominating all game. The Kings seemed to even up play as the period went on, but Owen Crudale once again was coming up big with numerous saves to keep his team up by two. The lead would then turn to 3 on a Will Jones one timer from the blueline at 15:18 for his third of the season. Despite being all over the Kings the Rivermen found themselves down by a trio of goals but the just kept on applying the pressure and finally solved Crudale on a man advantage on their 34th shot at 16:56 when Max Borovinsky tipped in a shot from Carsten Kayter. Just over a minute late the lead would be reduced to one when Gabriel Gilbeault’s point shot took a funky bounce and hopped by Crudale;s glove to make it 3-2. With two quick goals the Riv would get one more before the period ended on another power play after some great passing to tie up Crudale and leaving a tap in for Conner Schneider as Langley scored 3 times in under 3 minutes to tie it up going into the third.
Langley did not let up in the third and would eventually scored the go ahead goal at 6:30 from Ryder Mcintosh to give the Rivermen their first lead of the game. Now down, the Kings finally started apply consistent pressure towards Langley but struggled to get shots on goal. Once again the will have the extra attacker out at the end of the game and for the second game in row they were unable to tie it up, as the Rivermen won 4-3.
The final shots would be 50-23 for Langley including 12-6 in the third. Owen Crudale would be sensational making 46 saves while Will Jones had 3 points. Alexi Van Houtte-Cachero’s two goals would be his 6th and 7th on year which leads the team.
The Kings are now 3-6 as they head to the BCHL Showcase in Seattle. They will take on the Penticton Vees on Tuesday at 4:50pm and the Prince George Spruce Kings Wednesday at 10:50am from the Kraken Community Iceplex.
The next home game is Saturday October 28th versus the Salmon Arm Silverbacks.