The opening minutes saw the Bulldogs and Kings playing at a different pace, as the Kings were in an extra gear and the Dogs were trying to keep up. The Bulldogs were penalized just short of three minutes in, and the Kings made quick work of the man advantage as Kyle Kawamura ripped a cross-ice pass from Jonny Evans short-side past the blocker of Colten Lancaster from the top of the left circle. Gavin Rauser also drew an assist at 3:08 of the first. The Dogs continued to chase the game over the following minutes, but did a good job of bending and not breaking as Lancaster was good when needed with a series of pucks on net as the Kings ran up a 7-0 lead in shots. The Dogs finally tested Mitch Adamyk just short of seven minutes into the game, and then had a strong push back shift in the attacking zone when they threatened but couldn't equalize. They looked certain to have earned their first power play of the game in the following minutes when Darren Rizzolo was drilled from behind/boarded with an Official having a front row seat to the infraction, but no arms went up. The rest of the period was fairly evenly played, save for the two further Kings power play chances they were awarded. While they threatened on them, the Dogs did a good job to kill them and keep in the game to trail just 1-0 after 20 minutes, with the shots being 13-6 Kings.
The start to the second was somewhat similar to the first, as the Dogs weren't crisp with the puck and it came back to bite them as a pass up the middle out of their zone as Josh Coblenz picked it off and threw it at the net where Ben Berard got a stick on it to tip it off the blocker of Lancaster, off the post, and then in to make it 2-0 at 1:53 of the first. The Bulldogs did a good job in my opinion of not letting the early-period goal deflate them, as they fought back to finally earn a call the other way. The first minute of the power play didn't look good, as the Dogs were loose with the puck in their end and didn't get going with any pace. When they did gain the zone, they found the back of the net as Michael Sacco fed the puck back to the left point for Connor Welsh. He would go D-to-D across the line to the right point to Mitch Oliver, who snapped a quick release at the net that beat a screened Adamyk blocker side to make it 2-1 at 5:40 of the second. The remainder of the period was hotly contested and played at a high pace, but there was no scoring. Each team had a Grade A chance, with Adamyk robbing Brad Ong with his glove on a open net set up by Christian Simeone and Michael Sacco. At the other end later in the period Colten Lancaster kept the Dogs down just by one when he came up with a big breakaway save on Kevin Obssuth.
Shots in the period were 11-8 Bulldogs, for a 21-17 Kings advantage after 40 minutes.
The Bulldog power play to start the third was somewhat similar to their earlier advantage, however without the same result as they struggled in their zone to move it cleanly and wasted precious time. When in the zone, they did create a couple good looks but couldn't cash in. Another power play later in the period saw them create some looks, but they didn't push enough to get a bounce to tie it. At the other end, Colten Lancaster came up with another game-saver on a breakaway by Ethan Kimball where he undressed a defenceman and got in alone where Lancaster dragged his left toe to keep it out and keep the Dogs within one. A tough penalty to take that saw sticks up away from the puck put the Kings to the power play where they would connect to all but put the game away when Carmine Buono put a high wrist shot through traffic from the top of the point that beat a screened Lancaster glove side to make it 3-1 at 12:52 of the third. The Dogs couldn't get back into it, and were penalized again with just over two minutes to play to all but halt any comeback chances. They did push to the final minute, winning an attacking zone draw to create a 2 on 1 rush that saw Adamyk come up with a blocker save on Michael Sacco. The Dogs couldn't get the puck back before Kevin Obssuth took a Josh Coblenz pass at neutral ice where he hit the empty net for the power play marker to make it a 4-1 final at 19:24 with Josh Coblenz and Mitch Adamyk assisting.
Third period shots were 10-10, for a game total of 31-27 Kings. The Dogs went 1 for 3 on the power play while the Kings were 3 for 5.
The Dogs are next in action tomorrow afternoon when they host the Langley Rivermen for a 2:00pm puck drop.
Hammer
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