Panthers knock off Generals 6-1 to take 2-0 Best-of-7 series lead

March 25, 2022
North Saanich, British Columbia

The Peninsula Panthers took a 2-0 Best-of-7 VIJHL Finals Series lead with a convincing 6-1 win Friday night in the friendly confines of the Panorama Recreation Centre.  Logan Speirs and Riley Braun each scored a pair of markers, while singles came off the sticks of Payton Braun and Ethan Lingard.

The Panthers held a 3-1 lead after 40 minutes were in the books but only seconds into the final stanza, Oceanside's Evan Dyce broke in all alone on Panthers' stopper Ashton Lukan but a snap shot that beat Lukan went harmlessly into the corner after ringing off the post.  At the 5:25 mark of the 3rd frame and while on the power play, Speirs got one of his goals and that seemed to take some of the steam out of the visitors.  And two minutes later, Riley Braun scored his second marker on the evening when he cut in from the left side and then beat Generals' starting goaltender Ashton Sadauskas to give his squad the 5-1 cushion.  Lingard finished off the scoring at the 8:49 mark and the Panthers played it close to the vest for the remaining 11:11.

"The game was closer than the score indicated," quipped Panthers General Manager Pete Zubersky.  "The Generals have a good Club and we had to earn everything we got tonight.  Lukan was solid for us and we were able to score on the power play to push the game to 4-1 and that was a big point in the game.  We know Sunday night up in Oceanside will be a hostile building and we also know we will have our hands full with the Generals."

Speirs and Dyce were named the Players of the Game for their respective squads.  Sadauskas was tagged for the loss in stopping 19 of 24 shots in 47:47, while Aaron Kaner mopped up the remaining 12:13 minutes and blocked 8 of 9 Panthers attempts.  Lukan collected the win and was good on 29 of 30 Generals scoring attempts.

The game on Sunday is set for 7:00 pm and then the two squads will be right back at the Panorama Recreation Centre on Monday night when the puck will drop at 7:30 pm.