In a Friday night regular season contest at the Stockton Arena, the Victoria Salmon Kings took on the Stockton Thunder in the second game of their four game road trip. The Salmon Kings started Jimmy Sprat in goal, while the Thunder gave reigning ECHL Goaltender of the Week Tyson Sexsmith the nod in net. The Salmon Kings were awarded an early five-on-three power play to start the first period. Victoria worked the puck around the perimeter on the two-man advantage before Milan Gajic fed the puck to Chad Painchaud in the high slot. The Salmon Kings' forward fired a slap shot past Sexsmith for his team-leading 24th of the year. Just 29 seconds after the 5-on-3 goal, Victoria's Geoff Waugh fired a slap shot that found its way through traffic to give Victoria a 2-0 lead. The home team got on the board on the power play when Jimmy Sprat gave up a rebound off a Ryan Constant point shot. The puck bounced directly to Jordan Foreman who buried his seventh goal of the season. At 9:37 of the first, Bretton Cameron chipped a rebound in the slot over the shoulder of Spratt to tie the game at 2-2. Stockton then took their first lead of the game at the 12:25 mark of the first while shorthanded. Craig Valette cleared the puck down the ice and charged after it. He picked it up in the left corner in the Salmon Kings' zone and fired a pass to Jim McKenzie in the slot. The Stockton forward fired a wrist shot that beat Spratt. Stockton scored their fourth unanswered goal of the period when Chris Lawrence stick handled through to the net and beat Spratt inside the post. Victoria tested Sexsmith late in the frame but Stockton held their 4-2 lead going into the first intermission. Salmon Kings' forward Rick Cleaver had the first chance of the second frame when he got behind the Thunder defense, but was slashed by Daryl Marcoux to give Victoria an early man advantage. On the ensuing power play, Rob Hennigar's wrist shot was tipped in front by Cleaver at 4:21 to cut the Thunder lead to one. The Thunder would respond under a minute later after when a cross-ice pass landed on the stick of Jordan Fulton who buried it past Spratt. Victoria controlled the possession throughout much of the second period, but were unable to solve Sexsmith as great chances from Gajic and Painchaud on the power play were denied. Stockton had two chances in the following minutes when Fraser Clair rang a shot off the post and Garet Hunt's tip on a two-on-one was stopped by Spratt. With less than three minutes remaining in the period, Thunder captain Craig Valette was given a major penalty and assessed a game misconduct for a hit to the head on Ryan Dingle. The penalty gave Victoria a five minute power play at the end of the second. Victoria pressured Stockton to cut into the lead, but could not get past the defense and goaltending of the Thunder. After two periods of play, Stockton held a 5-3 lead. The Thunder extended their lead just 29 seconds into the third with a goal from Steve Vanoosten from the right point. Victoria gained momentum back as they scored their fourth power play goal of the game at the 3:18 mark. Gajic worked a wrap-around attempt that was denied by Sexsmith. Jeff Caister jumped into the play and banged at the rebound to net his eighth of season. Cam Ritchie would bring Victoria within one goal with 9:02 remaining in the game when he scored his first professional goal. Ritchie took a pass from Painchaud in the slot and used the backhand to find the net. With just over eight minutes remaining a scrum broke out in Victoria's zone that saw Maxwell and Hunt both receive fighting majors and the Salmon Kings realize a power play. As the Salmon Kings pushed for the equalizer, the team received a power play opportunity. On the man advantage, Painchaud's point shot was stopped by Sexsmith, but Hennigar was left alone in front of the crease to bury the rebound at 14:18. Victoria continued to push for the late game winner, but the contest took to overtime in a 6-6 draw. Gajic looked to end the overtime period early as he stick-handled through the Thunder defense, but shot it wide on the short side. The overtime period saw both teams exchange chances and provide excitement at both ends of the ice. Chad Painchaud almost scored his second goal and sixth point of the game when he broke in on a partial break, but was stopped by Sexsmith. Neither team could count a goal in overtime. After four rounds in the shootout both teams were tied at 1-1 with goals from Cleaver and Pitton. Clair moved in as Stockton's fifth shooter, but was denied by Spratt. Painchaud skated out with the chance to win the game and snapped a shot stick side past Sexsmith to complete the comeback. Salmon Kings 7 Thunder 6 OT. The victory clinched a 2011 Kelly Cup Playoff spot for the Salmon Kings. Victoria went 5/955.6% on the power play, while Stockton was 1/425.0%. The Salmon Kings outshot the Thunder 39-35. The Salmon Kings will continue their four game road trip tomorrow night at 7:30 p.m. against the Thunder at the Stockton Arena. The final home series of the 2010-11 regular season begins next week on Wednesday, March 30th against the Alaska Aces. On Friday April 1st the Salmon Kings are hosting Fan Appreciation Night. Visit www.salmonkings.com for more information. For tickets call 250-220-7777 or visit www.selectyourtickets.com.
