The Penticton Vees used three power play goals, two Josh Nadeau tallies and a shorthanded marker from Jackson Nieuwendyk that helped them to a 6-2 victory over the Prince George Spruce Kings in Game #2 of the best-of-seven Interior Conference Semi Final and lead the series 2-0.
There weren’t many shots in the opening 10 minutes of play but the Vees were first to hit the scoresheet with Bradly Nadeau earning his 3rd goal of the playoffs at the 11:31 mark of the opening frame to give Penticton a 1-0 advantage. Josh Nadeau knocked down the puck inside the right point as he sent a pass to the left face-off circle that Bradly hammered to the net that went off the blocker side post of Spruce Kings goaltender Jordan Fairlie and off of the back of the Prince George netminder and into the back of the net for a 1-0 lead.
The Spruce Kings came back in the early part of the 2nd period and got themselves into the game with the tying goal coming at the 4:06 mark of the middle stanza as Rowan Miller evened the score. Miller took a Simon Labelle pass inside the offensive zone and got behind the Vees defense as he made a move from his backhand to his forehand and slid the puck past the left pad of Vees goaltender Kaeden Lane to tie the score at 1-1.
Just under 1:50 later, the Spruce Kings took advantage of a Vees penalty and earned their first lead of Game #2 as Luc Laylin hit a one-time shot on the power play. Laylin was fed in the left face-off circle from Josh Wright and hit a shot off the inside of the left pad of Lane that pushed Prince George ahead by a 2-1 score at the 5:50 mark of the middle stanza.
The Vees were able to get some momentum off a strong shift from the line of Brett Moravec, Aydar Suniev and Ethan Mann, who kept the Spruce Kings hemmed in their own zone and shifted the play inside of the offensive end that allowed for the Vees to attack and Josh Nadeau got the Vees back to 2-2.
Bradly got the puck below the goal line as he took it off a Spruce King defender and made his way to the glove side of Fairlie before delivering a backhand pass to the edge of the right-wing face-off circle as Josh snapped the shot over the blocker shoulder of Fairlie for his 4th goal of the playoffs at the 9:02 mark of the middle frame to get the game squared at 2-2.
Collecting his third point and second goal of the game, Josh Nadeau gave the Vees the lead once again at the 14:42 mark as the Vees power play got on the board. Aydar Suniev spotted Josh with a pass in the slot as he gathered the puck on his backhand and zipped a shot past the blocker of Fairlie from his forehand for his 5th of the playoffs to give the Vees a one-goal edge heading into the 3rd period.
While the Vees were shorthanded in the 3rd period, Jackson Nieuwendyk got the Vees ahead by a pair of goals for the first time in the game with his 2nd playoff goal to give Penticton a 4-2 lead. Brett Moravec stole a puck in the offensive end and dropped the puck in the slot where Nieuwendyk slid a shot through the legs of Fairlie to make it 4-2.
Moravec found the back of the net himself at the 9:19 mark on another Vees power play strike to get ahead by a 5-2 score. Luc Wilson sent a pass to the slot as Moravec deflected the puck past the glove side of Fairlie for his 4th goal of the playoffs to push the Vees ahead by three goals at 5-2.
Adam Eisele concluded the scoring in the 3rd period at the 11:07 mark with their third power play goal of the game. Eisele sent a puck from below the goal line that banked off a Spruce King defender at the front of the net and over the blocker side shoulder of Fairlie for his 2nd goal of the playoffs and helped the Vees to their fifth unanswered goal and a 6-2 final score.
Kaeden Lane turned aside 23 of the 25 shots he faced in his 6th win of the playoffs while Jordan Fairlie made 22 saves on 28 shots thrown his way in his 2nd loss of the playoffs.
