The North Okanagan Knights were left looking for a split after they fell 3-2 to the Kamloops Storm in Game 1 of their best-of-seven Kootenay International Junior Hockey League playoff series Friday night at McArthur Island Arena.
The teams tangled in Game 2 Saturday night, with Games 3 and 4 set for Monday and Tuesday night respectively at Nor-Val Sports Centre.
“What really let us down was our special teams,” said Knights’ head coach Kris Mallette, after his team went 0-for-6 on the powerplay. “It was better for us to play 5-on-5 than give us a man advantage.”
The Knights’ Mateja Leko opened the scoring 7:32 into the first period, taking a smart breakout pass from d-man Nathan Browne and using his speed to cut in from the wing to beat Marcus Beesley (38 saves).
“He (Browne) hit the guy going hard with some speed,” said Mallette. “Our dee did a decent job of moving up with the play.”
Kamloops responded 27 seconds later on a goal by Tyler Jackson, and went ahead in the second period on an absolute rocket slap shot by Mattia Bortolotto.
D-man John Saunders joined the rush and helped set up North Okanagan’s second goal by Josh Wickenheiser with seven minutes left in regulation. Ryan Skinner buried the winner just over a minute later.
“We were a bounce or two from making it very interesting,” said Mallette.
