Tonight, we go to Kelowna for a showdown between two British Columbia rivals: the Vancouver Whalers and the Kelowna Knights.  This is the third meeting between these clubs and Kelowna is looking for their first win over the visiting squad this season.  Backup goaltender Cillian Kavanagh is getting the nod tonight for the Knights looking for his 5th win of the season while the Whalers sent out their star goalie White Goodman who has been one of the best goalies this season.

First Period
Shots
:5
:8

Penalties
Danila Zhernov Interference at 0:59
William Hartmann Hooking at 0:59
Adam Scianna Holding at 5:45
Austin Powers Holding the Stick at 12:56
Gylfi Eriksson High sticking at 16:16

Both teams started by struggling to get the puck into the other team’s zone and there was a lot of sloppy hockey early.  Knights D Danila Zhernov and Whalers RW William Hartmann took matching minors, but neither team could even register a shot.  Finally, the Knights broke through with 10:22 remaining in the first when Whalers D Mikas Bieksa blocked a shot by LW Gylfi Eriksson right to C Ryan Shepard.  Goodman, having already reacted to Eriksson's attempt, could not recover as Shepard buried it right down the middle of the wide open net to make it 1-0.  Just a short time later, the Knights defense made a nice play on offense as Michael Preeb went D to D for Alex Ranch who spotted RW Nicklaus Engel down low for his 7th of the season to make it 2-0.  The Whalers appeared to be on their heels a bit and immediately went down a man as C Austin Powers grabbed LW Jaska Seppala’s stick off a bad turnover in the neutral zone.  Goodman, however, made a couple of spectacular saves on Shepard and D Danila Zhernov and the momentum was right back in the Whalers favor.  Later on, the Knights would kill a minor penalty, but could not clear the zone and Whalers LW The singray that Killed steve irwin took a slapshot that Kavanagh couldn’t handle.  D Tiberius Maximus got a couple of whacks in with RW Antti Antinen flailing about trying to stop the puck, but was unable to keep the puck from crossing the line with 1:30 to go to cut the Knights lead to 2-1.  Zhernov picked off the pass from Maximus and immediately sent in D Noah Nystrom in on a 2 on 1 with LW Kalevolaripaavo Kaspertommevinapuu.  Nystrom completed his pass over to Kaspertommevinapuu who was able to slide it in just under Goodman’s pass to make the score 3-1 Knights with 45 seconds remaining.  Finally, the buzzer sounded and the Knights crowd cheered a strong opening period from the home team.

Second Period
Shots
:8
:10

Penalties
Morgan Forestier Interference at 8:55
Sven Yxskaft Roughing (Double Minor) at 13:53

Kavanagh had to be stellar early this period as the Whalers looked to respond right out of the gate.  Just under three minutes into the second, Vancouver LW Francois Breton passed over to C Stracimir Petrovic in the slot who took the shot.  Kavanagh made a kick save and the puck was sent into the corner.  Breton scooped up the puck and immediately fired it into the side of the net, but was able to get his own rebound.  Kavanagh reached out with the glove and stopped the following shot to end the threat.  One minute later, the Knights were able to respond after a rush up the ice the team settled in.  Theo Golury took a shot and missed the net, but the lively boards in Kelowna allowed Rocco Berni to get the rebound and send it home to make it 4-1 Knights.  After a poor showing, Goodman’s night was done having made only 5 saves on 9 shots.  Rookie goalie Joe Simpson would take his place and play the remainder of the evening.  The Whalers would soon get another chance on the powerplay as Morgan Forestier was sent off with 11:05 remaining in the second.  Petrovic won the ensuing faceoff and Bieksa sent a wrist shot right by Kavanagh’s ear to give Vancouver some life.  But, with just a little more than six minutes to go, D Sven Txskaft took an undisciplined penalty and the referee gave him a double minor penalty for roughing.  This ultimately doomed the Whalers chances at a comeback and Kaspertommevisnapuu and Zhernov would both score on the Knights powerplay to make it 6-2.

Third Period
Shots
:5
:11

Penalties
Zlatan Ibrahimovic Jr. Hooking at 0:05
William Hartmann Hooking at 5:18
Sven Yxskaft Hooking at 11:49
Tiberius Maximus Interference at 19:23

With the game in hand, it began to get chippy and Vancouver began a parade to the penalty box.  The team looked lost out there, but was able to regain a bit of momentum when Bieksa intercepted a pass by Kaspertommevinapuu and moved the puck forward to Breton.  Breton deked out his man and scored shorthanded to put the Whalers within three.  But, the team couldn’t put it together and failed to put any kind of pressure on the Knights all period.  With 5:38 to go in the game, Morgan Forestier notched his 4th of the season to end any kind of threat.  Seppala recorded his first career assist on the play.  Mercifully, this game came to an end with the final score 7-3 in favor of the Kelowna Knights.

Despite taking so many penalties, the Whalers only allowed 2 goals on them (both on Txskaft’s double minor) and even scored a shorthanded goal in the third period.  On the other hand, most of the penalties they did take and kill successfully were when the game was virtually decided and further prevented them from any semblance of a comeback.  Kavanagh had a strong showing in net allowing 3 goals on 18 shots for his 5th win of the season, but Kaspertommevisnapuu took home the honors with his 2 goal night.