Post Game: Salmon Arm 6 at Trail 3

Trail, BC – Corey Shakeen scored back to back goals in the third period to break a tie and lead Salmon Arm (14-8-1-1) to a 6-3 victory over the Trail Smoke Eaters (6-16-1-1). The Silverbacks swept their two weekend games in Trail and retained third spot in the Interior.

David Killip and Tyler Gubb also scored twice for Salmon Arm. Gubb had 4 goals over the weekend. Charlie Vasaturo and Mark Zengerle chipped in 2 assists each.

The Smoke Eaters battled back from down 2-0 and 3-1 to tie the game. Nick Sandor scored in his fourth straight game to make it 2-1 at the end of the first. Late in the second period, Thomas Abenante knocked in a shorthanded goal after a great rush by Sean Nugent to set it up. Then early in the third period Travis St. Denis tied the game after some good work in the trenches.

The Silverbacks took an early lead on Killip's goals. He scored shorthanded after a nice pass from Josh Manson on a 2 on 1. Killip also tipped in a point shot from Josh Monk. Gubb scored his first of the game early in the second period to restore the 3-1 Salmon Arm lead. He finished the game off with an empty netter after Killip narrowly missed getting his hat trick.

Kiefer Smiley stopped 35 of 40 shots he faced for Trail including some spectacular saves when the game was close. Tony Ierfino got his second win of the weekend in the Salmon Arm net with 28 saves on 31 shots against.

Trail's penalty kill was the largest bright spot for the Smoke Eaters on the weekend. They killed off 10 of the 11 Salmon Arm power play opportunities. It was a big step forward for a penalty kill that had been ranked last in the league coming into Friday's game. Their shorthanded performance this week vaulted the PK over 70% for the first time this season.

ON THE TRAIL: Steve Koshey returned to the Trai line-up after missing Friday's game with the flu. Several Smoke Eaters were still fighting the bug but played ... The Smoke Eaters won't have injured forward Matt Wilkins back until at least their northern trip in two weeks ... Mark Zengerle's 2 assists in the game gave him 8 so far on the season against Trail, but the BCHL's points leader has yet to score a goal against the Smokies this season ... Next weekend the Smoke Eaters visit the Vernon Vipers for back to back games on Friday and Satuday ... Tune in to Shaw TV in the Kootenays over the weekend to catch a profile of Smokies Captain Paul Mailey.

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