Tonight, we are in Carolina for the first meeting of a home and home between the Kelowna Knights and the Carolina Kraken.  These two teams have not faced each other this season and both sport fairly modest records at this point.  The Kraken are coming off a tough loss to the Colorado Raptors and are looking to get back on track while the Knights have just taken one from the Anchorage Armada and hope to gain momentum from an otherwise mediocre start.

First Period
Shots
: 10
: 5

Penalties
None

The Knights came out hammering away at the net with a barrage of shots.  Late in the first and Knights winger Antti Antinen picked up the puck in the Carolina zone.  His initial shot just barely missed the far corner.  Center Ethan Duncan picked it up and was checked hard for his trouble, but the Kraken could not recover.  Antinen got the puck and rifled it home with just 1:07 left to the first intermission!  It took three swings, but he finally converted his 4th goal of the season to put the Knights on top 1-0.

Second Period
Shots
: 11
: 8

Penalties
Zbigniew Pokrywka Tripping at 16:16

At the start of the second, the Kraken looked to respond.  Just a bit past the halfway mark of this game and Scott Hamilton moved right on in and tucked it just under the pad of Luca Del Vecchio, tying the game at one a piece.  That’s a tough break for Del Vecchio as he had been stellar up to this point.  Buster Cherry picked up his first assist of his career on the play.  Zbigniew Pokrywka took a tripping penalty late in the period, but Kelowna was unable to convert.  At the end of 40 minutes, they headed to the locker room tied.

Third Period
Shots
: 11
: 9

Penalties
Ambacas Cuddles Roughing at 2:11
Michael Fitted Roughing at 10:14
Theo Golury Tripping at 10:14
Erik Johansson Tripping at 16:13

Out of the gate, the Kraken got a quick start.  Stirling MacTavish won the faceoff in the Knights zone.  Defenseman Alex Ranch could not get the puck out of the zone and MacTavish found himself alone down low and buried it what would eventually be the game winning goal.  Immediately, the team would find itself in penalty trouble as Ambacas Cuddles got sent off for roughing less than a minute later.  The Knights were held shotless on this powerplay though.  At the mid mark, the teams had a bit of a scuffle when Michael Fitted took exception to a hard trip on Erik Johansson by Theo Golury.  Both were sent off, negating what could have been the first Kraken powerplay of the night.  Ultimately, the Kraken were victorious winning their 10th game of the season by a score of 2-1.

Despite being outshot 32-22, the Kraken managed to pull out a gutsy win at home thanks to a stellar performance from goaltender Mike Hroch and the defense preventing any real danger on all three penalty kills.  They bring their record to 10-5-1 on the young season while the Knights drop to 7-8-1.