Panthers double Islanders 4-2

The game hung in the balance midway through the final 20 minutes in the game Friday night at the Panorama Recreation Centre between the Peninsula Panthers and the Kerry Park Islanders.  The Islanders had taken a 1-0 lead by the end of the 1st period and scored again early in the 2nd stanza but the Panthers had scored two of their own in the middle frame and had seemed to take control of the play.  

But that was all water under the bridge,  the next goal was clearly going to be a difference-maker.  And at the 7:48 mark of that final period Panthers Zack Evans moved the puck to Jack McMillan on the right side and McMillan sped out of the zone before feeling some pressure in the neutral zone.  But he deftly moved the puck to Logan Speirs who was flying through the middle and Speirs collected the disk in mid-stride.  He moved to the right side as he entered the Kerry Park zone and with the speed he was travelling at, the Islanders defenceman was forced to back more than he probably would have liked.  Speirs let a snap shot go that rocketed over the shoulder of Islanders goaltender Rett Rook and made the twine rip behind the shocked goaltender.  And the Panthers would not look back when Jack Taylor added another at the 16:09 mark, this time with Speirs and McMillan getting helpers on the play.  There would be no further scoring in the contest and when the buzzer sounded to signify that the game had come to a conclusion a happy group of Panthers saluted the crowd and left the ice happy once again.

It did not start this way for the "Cats" in the early going.  The Club seemed to carry the play through the first ten minutes of play but the mandatory timeout at the first whistle after the midway mark in the period seemed to set their feet in cement.  And the Islanders took full advantage.  It was Josh Parkin who would be the first to beat Akerman when he ripped a high shot over his blocker at the 11:35 mark and this was followed up at the 1:46 of the 2nd period when Issac Leik picked up a loose puck on Panthers defenceman giveaway to once again beat Akerman and give his squad a 2-0 buldge.  But cue the comeback.

Evans scored at the 13:06 mark when he banged in a rebound from in tight off the stick of Joe Stafford-Veale.  Carson Cox was also in on the goal.  And just a little over a minute later sniper Josh Lingard smoked one past Rook on the power play with Tanner Wort and Alex Benger picking up helpers on the play to knot the score at 2-2 after 40 minutes were in the books.  It was the Speirs trio that took over in the 3rd to give the Panthers their 3rd win in the last four games, their only loss coming at the hands of the Nanaimo Buccaneers on Thursday night in Double Overtime.

"We dug ourselves a hole early after getting only a single point in the first five games," said Pete Zubersky.  But we have picked up nine points in our last four games and we have to keep winning games because with our start we have put ourselves in the chase mode.  But it is so early in the season and we do feel we have a pretty good hockey club and we do believe good things are going to come our way.  Last Friday night at 7:30 pm we had one point and tonight at 10:00 pm we had ten.  Maybe we will have some blue skies ahead."

The Panthers host the Comox Valley Glacier Kings at 7:30 pm next Friday at the Panorama Recreation Centre.

Panthers tracks....David Edgar was out with an injured hand while Skyler Diamond-Burchuk was a last minute scratch with flu symptoms....players are chomping at the bit to get or stay in the lineup and this is the first time for a number of years that the Club has had the kind of depth it is enjoying....11-year-old singer Brendan Dawes belted out the tunes for his 2nd Friday night in a row and although he will be out of town next Friday he looks like he will be a regular fixture at the games....Speirs, Akerman and Evans were named the three stars.... Akerman blocked 26 of 28 while Rook managed to get in the way of 32 of 36 shots sent in his direction....Coach Tippett appears to be finding some chemistry on some of the lines....