The Vernon Vipers scored early and often in the first period of game 3 of their best of seven series against the Trail Smoke Eaters. The Vipers scored 4 in the opening period which paced them to a dominant 7-1 win to take a 3-0 series lead. The Snakes had 7 different goal scorers and contributions up and down the lineup.
The Vipers didn’t waste much time as just 62 seconds in, Steven Jandric was set up for his 3rd of the playoffs. Ryan Brushett added another at 2:50 to double the lead. Luke Gringras had to feel slighted by having a goal waved off in game 2, responded with nearly a mirror image of the goal that was waved off as he rifled a low shot past the blocker of Linden Marshall to make it 3-0. Zach Dyment would replace Marshall in goal and was immediately greeted with a 3 on 1 rush capped off by Jimmy Lambert to end the period 4-0.
The Smoke Eaters responded with a solid second period and were rewarded for their hard work as Troy Ring finished off a nice passing play to make the game 4-1. The Viper penalty kill was solid when called upon as they killed one off midway through the period. Niko Karamanis, who was in the box for the kill, was sprung on a breakaway coming out of the box and made no mistake to make it 5-1 after 2.
The Viper powerplay increased the lead early in the third as Hunter Zandee deflected home a feed from Cameron Trott to make it 6-1. Austin Adamson was relentless on a puck a few minutes later and slid home his first of the playoffs to increase the lead to 7-1. The Vipers locked it down from there to complete a very solid performance by that very score.
The Viper special teams were good when needed as their powerplay went 1 for 3 and their penalty kill was air tight killing off 3 of 3. Darion Hanson stopped 34 of 35 for his third straight win.
The Vipers know the hardest game in a series to win, is the fourth and that is the expectation coming into Tuesday’s game.
The Smokies with their back against the wall, will come out and bring their best. The Vipers have relied on their ability of not letting the emotions get too high or too low and they’ll need that philosophy tomorrow.
The Vipers really used their depth in game 3 and will lean on it in game 4. They had 7 different scorers and all 4 lines contributed goals.
Game 4 starts at 7pm on 107.5 KissFM and HockeyTV with the pregame getting underway at 6:45
