Panthers look for win in Game 3 at home Monday night

The Peninsula Panthers had dropped the opening game in the best-of-7 series in Campbell River on Friday evening but were looking for a gritty effort on Saturday afternoon in Game 2.  A win would knot the series but the Club knew they would have to play a gritty and physical game to find success. 

"We knew we had to have every single player willing to go to battle to come out on top," said General Manager Pete Zubersky.  "And I thought we did that for the most part.  The Storm exploded over a 7:10 minute span late in the 2nd period and unfortunately that seven minutes is what dictated the outcome of the contest.  It was a fantastic game to that point and it was anyone's game."

The Storm scored five goals over seven minutes starting at 11:12 of the 2nd stanza to break open a 2-1 game and went to the second intermission with a commanding 7-1 lead.

The Panthers dominated the opening five minutes and were out-shooting, out-hitting, out-passing, out-everythinging the visitors.  They missed several wonderful scoring opportunities including a wide open net off the stick of 20-year-old Kai Turner.  But the Storm lobbed a puck through the neutral zone and Darren Hards picked it up at the blueline on the right side and cut to the middle.  Panthers' Ty Hermsen - who has been moved to the back end in the series - made a nice play and Hards released an innocent shot along the ice that somehow managed to beat Panthers' stopper Justin Anderson.  The Panthers went right back at the Storm and did everything but score, but at the 6:52 mark the visitors capitalized on their 2nd shot of the game to take a 2-0 lead.  Brett Kinley snapped a shot over the shoulder of Anderson and the goal sent shockwaves through the crowd and through the Panthers' bench.

"Anderson played really well down the stretch and was fantastic in the Wild Card game on Monday," explained Zubersky.  "He is our ride-or-die guy between the pipes.  I know he would have loved to have another shot at the first goal.  I thought he made some really nice saves to close out the first period and that gave us a chance to get right back into it."

The Panthers continued to be physical and the two teams continued to trade chances.  And at the 19:59 mark of the frame, 17-year-old Carson Cox blasted a shot that Storm's goaltender Spencer Deakin blocked.  The rebound came out and right onto the stick of 15-year-old affiliate callup Riley Braun and he made no mistake banging one past Deakin.

"Cox has really come on in the final several weeks and Braun and a few other guys have practiced with us all year long and the boys feel like they are part of the team," said Zubersky.  "It was a huge goal at the point and gave us a lot of momentum going into the break."

The two Clubs exchanged hit-for-hit in the second period before the Storm scored five unanswered goals by Zach Erhardt, Dylan McCann, Christian Brandt, Dawson Frank and Hards.  "It was amazing how fast it all happened," explained Zubersky.  "The several minutes were the difference in the game.  At one point, Thomas Spink was dragged down in the neutral zone and they turned the puck over and went in and scored.  We all felt it was clearly a penalty from our point of view and also felt it was a huge turning point in the game.  They are the favourites in the series, everyone knows that.  We are looking to get a fair shake, I think it's fair to expect that."

Liam Tutte replaced Anderson going into the final 20 minutes and looked solid.  Power-play goals by Panthers' Trevor Owens and Marshall Brown made the score 7-3 however, at the 9:50 mark Max Daerendinger got one back for the Storm.  With only 33 seconds left in the game, a couple Panthers raced down the ice after a Storm player had broken his stick.  The player threw the stick and the "Cats" were awarded a penalty shot.  Something occurred at the Storm bench and the referee emphatically ejected the Storm Head Coach.  But in an amazing turn of events, the decision was reversed and the game carried on.  Owens took the shot, went in on Deakin and after moving to the backhand, calmly slid the puck between the wickets to make the final score 8-4.

"I honestly did not know what happened after the ejection of their Coach," said Zubersky.  "The signal was not in question, he kicked the guy out.  I never saw the Coach leave and we were all asking each other if anyone had seen him leave the bench.  We never knew until the game was over that he wasn't tossed.  I spoke to their Coach Lee Stone and he told me they changed their mind.  I've never seen that happen before."

Zubersky was already looking forward to Monday night when the two teams will be right back at the Panorama at 7:30 pm for Game 3. "We would like to win on Monday and get right back into this series and we can do that.  Anderson will be back between the pipes and he will be a huge part in any success we have.  We need our best players to be our best players for 60 minutes.  We need everybody willing to pay the price, blocking shots, playing physical and getting back hard on the back-check.  We need every single player willing to do the little things that often result in wins.  The series is not over by any stretch of the imagination.  It's a best-of-7 and not a best-of-3.