Port Alberni, BC – The Alberni Valley Bulldogs (21-14-2) scored three goals in a span of 17 seconds, lifting them to a 3-1 victory over the Powell River Kings (19-20-2) on Saturday night at the Weyerhaeuser Arena.
The Bulldogs take the first game of a double-header, and win their fourth straight contest, while also snapping their two game home losing-streak.
Tim Gould opened the scoring with a blast from the right point, and Jackson Doucet scored twice all in a span of 17 seconds, late in the second period. Doucet’s first came on a hard wrist-shot from the high slot, and his second was on a breakaway, where he beat goaltender Derek Krall on his back hand.
“It’s the signature of our team, and that’s having meltdowns for short periods of time,” said Powell River Kings Head Coach and GM Tyler Kuntz. “We have a lot of young guys, and they’re good players and good kids, but sometimes the moment gets the better of them. If you breakdown the game, 17 seconds of play costed us the hockey game. It’s guys not having the mental fortitude to push through things when they get hard.”
Jack Long answered just over a minute later with his fourth of the season, and 10th of his career. His shot from the right point just got through the legs of goaltender Jack Glassford, making it 3-1 after 40 minutes.
That put the Kings in the right direction, as they went onto out shoot the Bulldogs 14-3 in the third period, with an overall shot total of 34-21 in favor of Powell River.
“It took until we were down 3-0 for guys to start playing connected,” added Kuntz. “We were going low to high, shooting with bodies in front, getting rebounds and hungry on the hunt. It takes until we’re down for guys to get into a hockey game. We’ve got 17 games left, and they’re almost all divisional games (all but three) and these are all important hockey games.”
The Kings have now lost two in a row, three straight on the road, and six of their last eight games dating back to December 13th.
Kings goaltender Derek Krall got the loss, allowing three goals on 21 shots. Bulldogs goaltender Jackson Glassford won his fifth straight start, and first against the Kings, giving up one goal on 34 shots.
The season series is now 3-2 in favor of Powell River with three more games to play against Alberni Valley this season. In fact, the Kings take on the Bulldogs tonight (Sunday) at 6:00 p.m., in Port Alberni for the second game of a double-header.
