Vernon, BC: The Vipers specials teams were front and center Sunday afternoon as 4 of the 5 Vipers goal were scored on the powerplay or shorthanded as the Vipers defeated Powell River 5-2.
The Vipers jumped on the Kings in just the 2nd shift of the game as Matt Kowalski and Connor Marritt teamed up in the corner to find Josh Latta in the low circle and he snapped home the shot to make it 1-0 just 73 seconds into the game. The Vipers powerplay struck shortly after that as Brendan Kim spotted Teddy Wooding back door and he lifted home a nice shot to make it 2-0. The Vipers upped the pressure and really gave the Kings breakouts all kinds of issues. The Kings weren't without their chances, but their best look missed the net off the stick of Mitchell Williams. The Vipers took a late penalty, but killed off the first part of the lethal Kings powerplay to get to the intermission leading by 2.
In the second, the Vipers killed off the remainder of the powerplay and promptly pushed the pace. The Vipers powerplay went to work for the 2nd time in the period and again struck as Lane Zablocki slammed home a centering pass from Ben Sanderson for his first as a Viper. Less than two minutes later, while on another powerplay, Tyler Ho scored his 3rd of the year from Ben Helgeson to make it 4-0. Late in the period, Matthew Byrne spun and fired home a shot from the slot to make it 4-1 after 2 periods.
In the third, the Vipers heavily outshot the Kings and really kept the puck away from their goal. The Vipers had a number of good looks at the net, but Matteo Paler-Chow stood tall. While shorthanded, Teddy Wooding converted on a weird sequence in the Powell River zone and banked in a pass off the goalie to make it 5-1. The Kings got one back as Mitchell Williams snapped home a shot from the wing, but thats as close as they would come as the Vipers increased their win streak to 3 with the 5-2 win.
Here's the scoring summary:
1ST PERIOD
VER - Josh Latta (17) - Matt Kowalski (21), Connor Marritt (20) - 1:13
VER - Teddy Wooding (14) - Brendan Kim (7), Jack Judson (21) - 4:17 - (PPG)
2ND PERIOD
VER - Lane Zablocki (1) - Jack Judson (22), Ben Sanderson (4) - 8:09 - (PPG)
VER - Tyler Ho (3) - Ben Helgeson (10) - 9:36 - (PPG)
PR - Matthew Byrne (2) - Josh Coblenz (11) - 17:38
3RD PERIOD
VER - Teddy Wooding (15) - unassisted - 10:13 - (SHG)
PR - Mitchell Williams (13) - Rowan Miller (3) - 13:01
The Vipers are now off until Friday night when they travel to West Kelowna to tangle with the Warriors.
