The Trail Smoke Eaters salvaged a point on a two-game road trip on the weekend.
The Langley Rivermen handed the Smoke Eaters their fourth straight loss in a 3-1 victory on Saturday in Langley, following a 4-3 shootout loss to the West Kelowna Warriors over the Smoke Eaters on Friday.
The game remained scoreless through 40 minutes against the Rivermen, despite a healthy 31-18 shot advantage for Trail.
Langley’s Deven Nagra broke the goose egg with a goal 73 seconds into the third period for a 1-0 lead.
However, affiliate player Nathan Dominici, from the KIJHL Beaver Valley Nitehawks, tallied his first as a Smoke Eater at 13:04 to tie it.
A slashing penalty to Adam Marshall put the Rivermen on the power play, and Owen Kim notched his sixth of the campaign for the game winner at 10:52. Langley scored an insurance marker from Joseph Messina just 15 seconds later for the 3-1 victory.
Langley goalie Taje Gill earned first star for stopping 43 shots on the night, while Keegan Maddocks stopped 28 in the Trail net. The 10-19-1-2 Rivermen remain in eighth spot in the Coastal Conference, while Trail holds down seventh in the Interior with a 14-14-1-3 record.
In Friday’s match in West Kelowna, the Smoke Eaters jumped out to a 3-0 lead on goals from Nic Remissong, Marshall, and Mathieu Cobetto-Roy.
But the Warriors chiseled away at the lead with a goal from Riley Sharun with 9:15 left in the second period, and tallies from Michael Slandra at 14:35 and Jaden Moriello with 5:35 left in the third to tie it.
After two scoreless overtime periods, the goalies turned aside the first six shooters in the shootout before West Kelowna’s Isaiah Norlin beat Smoke Eaters goalie Teagan Kendrick for the 4-3 win.
West Kelowna outshot Trail 52-34 and went 0-for-3 on the power play, while the Smoke Eaters were 1-for-3.
Trail will look for their first win of 2023 when they host Penticton in the lone home game of January on Friday Jan. 13. They travel to Salmon Arm on Saturday, Jan. 14 for a match against the Silverbacks before embarking on a three-game road trip to Prince George, Jan. 27-29.
There are no games scheduled Jan. 20-22 weekend because of the BCHL Top Prospects and All Star game in Penticton to celebrate the BC Hockey League’s 60th Anniversary.
The event features a game for the league’s young, up and coming prospects, an outdoor all-star tournament, skills competition, alumni and friends game and much more.
The Prospects Game will take place at the South Okanagan Events Centre, while the outdoor events will be held at a newly built outdoor rink in downtown Penticton.
Read: Smoke Eaters look to rebound after losing home-and-home to Bucks