The Penticton Vees had their 11-game win streak come to an end as they fell to the Alberni Valley Bulldogs 4-0 on Saturday night at the Weyerhaeuser Arena.
The Vees had the best chance in the opening moments to find the back of the net as Jackson Niedermayer had a shorthanded opportunity in tight but Bulldogs goaltender Luke Pearson made a strong glove save before Alberni Valley came down on a shorthanded chance of their own to open the scoring in the game.
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Penticton worked in on a power play and just inside the blue line had the puck turned over as Dawson Tritt carried back the other way, working in on a shorthanded breakaway before beating the glove side of Vees netminder Derek Krall with a wrist shot to give the Bulldogs a 1-0 advantage while down a man at the 8:38 mark of the opening frame.
Alberni Valley added to their lead at the 12:56 mark of the first period as Tritt would add his second of the frame. Caige Sterzer set up Tritt with a pass from the right face-off circle, spinning a pass across to the blocker side as Tritt finished the playoff for his second of the game and a 2-0 Bulldogs advantage.
The goal signaled the end of the night for Vees starter Derek Krall, who stopped six of the eight shots put on net as Yaniv Perets came on to relieve him in the Penticton crease.
The Vees found themselves in the penalty box four times in the second period and the Bulldogs capitalized on a power play to extend their lead to 3-0 over halfway through the middle stanza. Jackson Doucet sent a pass from the goal line on the glove side of Perets with Tyler Kostelecky banging the puck in on the blocker side for a three-goal lead at the 12:27 mark of the middle frame.
Penticton started to get shots toward the Alberni Valley net and got some pressure in the offensive zone with power-play pressure in the back half of the period but Pearson stood tall in the Bulldogs crease. The Alberni Valley goaltender made saves on all 15 shots he faced in the period and saves on 26 shots through 40 minutes of action heading into the final period.
The Vees fall for the first time this season, dropping a 4-0 decision to the Bulldogs#BCHL pic.twitter.com/HRpMHYTaCA
— Penticton Vees (@PentictonVees) October 13, 2019
The third period saw the Bulldogs outshoot the Vees by a 9-6 margin as well as get the only goal in the period as Penticton tried to get on the scoreboard and get back into the game.
Yaniv Perets went to the bench for an extra attacker to make a 6-on-4 power play as Tritt got the puck chipped past the Vees blue line and had an open lane to the goal before finishing off his hat-trick on the empty net while shorthanded to make the score 4-0 in favour of the Bulldogs at the 15:49 mark of the period and finished off the scoring on the night.
Derek Krall got the start in the game for the Vees, making six saves on 8 shots in his 1st loss of the season before Yaniv Perets came on to play 46:04 and turn aside 18 of the 19 shots he faced. Luke Pearson stopped all 32 shots thrown his way for his first career BCHL shutout and third win of the season.
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