Saturday, January 17, 2015

Kootenay 5 Prince Albert 2

From Chris Wahl ...
The Kootenay ICE exploded for four third-period goals en route to a 5-2 victory over the Prince Albert Raiders Friday.

Luke Philp tallied twice, while Zak Zborosky collected his second game-winning goal against the Raiders this season as Kootenay snapped a four-game winless skid.

The ICE opened the scoring just past the eight-minute mark when Philp collected a pass from linemate Jaedon Descheneau, then beat Prince Albert netminder Rylan Parenteau from close range. The Canmore, Alberta native came close to doubling the Kootenay lead on a breakaway later in the frame but was denied by the Raiders goaltender.

The hosts equalized at the midpoint of the second period following an odd-man rush. After Tim Vanstone's initial shot was kicked out by ICE puckstopper Wyatt Hoflin, the rebound fell to Matteo Gennaro who poked home his fifth goal of the season.

Kootenay held a 29-22 shot advantage through 40 minutes, and the offensive production sprung to life during an eight-minute span in period three.

Philp wired a wrist shot past Parenteau from the high slot at 5:46 to put the ICE ahead 2-1. It was the 19 year-old's 20th goal of the campaign.

Zborosky snapped home a shot high to Parenteau's stick side to extend the lead four minutes later, before Ryan Chynoweth and Descheneau added insurance markers for Kootenay.

Import forward Simon Stransky completed the evening's scoring with a redirection in front of Hoflin with 4:35 remaining in the game.

Hoflin made 28 saves in the ICE goal, and has now won ten of his last 13 appearances when facing 30 or more shots.

Parenteau made 38 saves for Prince Albert.

Kootenay captain Sam Reinhart collected a pair of assists, putting him within a point of Jarret Stoll's franchise record total of 286.

Philp recorded his fourth multi-goal game of the season, while Descheneau's tally gives him 99 career regular season goals in the WHL.

Both teams went 0-1 on the power-play.

UP NEXT: the ICE complete their three-game East Division road swing Saturday night in Saskatoon. Game time is 6:00 pm.