The game certainly had the feel of a contest with no consequences in regards to the standings in the early moments, as both sides appeared somewhat loose with the play being less than sharp. The Bulldogs would open the scoring before the game was two minutes old, as Dawson Tritt won a faceoff in the Capitals zone that Michael Hodge got a piece of before being tied up. Evan Googins would jump on the loose puck off the pile and beat Jack Grant with a quick release short-side inside the post to make it 1-0 at 1:51. Almost instantly, the Bulldogs were penalized off the centre ice puck drop. The Capitals would make good on the opportunity as Dimitri Mikrogiannakis one-timed an Olivier Gauthier pass at the left point on net through traffic. Cole Demers would get a good chunk of it, but not enough of it as it just rolled over the line to make it 1-1 at 3:49 of the first. There would be no scoring the rest of the way, with a couple good opportunities either way but the goalies coming up big. Shots in the first were 8-7 Capitals.
The pace was high to start the second, with each side getting pucks on net, but not much materializing in the way of chances. A rather battling scenario played out near the midpoint of the period, as Stephen Castagna got tied up with Preston Brodziak behind the play at the Capitals bench. Brodziak would drop his gloves and throw a handful of haymakers on Castagna, who didn't drop his gloves or stick of throw a single punch. Unbelievably, it was just two minutes each for roughing......moving on before I get too far into that one, there would be no scoring the rest of the way, with again not much in the way of wide open chances, but a couple good saves either way. Demers was the busier of the two netminders, as the Capitals out shot the Bulldogs 13-6 for a two period advantage of 21-13.
The third period saw plenty of penalties to the Bulldogs early, with the Capitals going up 2-1 at 5:02 of the period when Preston Brodziak took a headman pass to race in alone on Demers, who would make the first save but be unable to find the loose puck before Cruz Cote jammed it home in the paint. Like they did twice last night in Powell River, the Bulldogs immediately responded to tie it as Evan Googins went forward off the draw in the Caps zone before sliding a perfect pass across the slot to Dawson Tritt, who made no mistake with a quick release far-side past the stick of Grant to make it 2-2 at 5:14 of the third. The Capitals would immediately go to the power play, but Demers and the penalty killers kept it tied. The Capitals continued to push throughout the period, and eventually went ahead 3-2 in the back half of regulation on an odd man rush that saw a cross-ice pass find Brady Lynn in the slot who beat Demers with a quick release. Assists on the play went to Paul Selleck and David Melaragni at 11:04 the third. The Bulldogs showed no signs of packing it in through the remainder of regulation time, but weren't able to mount much of a sustained attack to create the equalizer as the Capitals made the lead stand.
Third period shots were 17-6 Capitals, for a game total of 38-19 in their favour with Jack Grant earning the win while Cole Demers took the loss. The Bulldogs went 0 for 3 on the power play while the Capitals went 2 for 5.
The Bulldogs conclude their regular season tomorrow afternoon at home when they host the Powell River Kings.
Hammer
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