The Salmon Arm Silverbacks ended their exhibition games on a positive in their final face off against the Vernon Vipers.
After enduring a narrow defeat dealt by the Vipers in an overtime goal at the Shaw Centre in Salmon Arm on Aug. 28, the Silverbacks exacted their revenge on the Vipers’ home ice at Kal Tire Place. On Aug. 30 the Silverbacks were able to edge the Vipers 4-2 and finished the pre-season with a record of 2-0-2.
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The action got going when Coalson Wolford ripped a wrist shot perfectly into the top corner right from the slot just over two minutes into the game. Logan Shaw dropped the pass for Wolford, while Holden Knights also drew an assist on the play.
The Backs' escaped with a 4-2 win tonight despite being out-shot 41-24.
— Salmon Arm Silverbacks (@SASilverbacks) August 31, 2019
Kruss was fabulous & it was nice to not have to play catch-up! pic.twitter.com/Q4BEBq4KmT
A few minutes later, Viper forward Connor Sleeth made good on an opportunity from the slot, beating Silverbacks’ goaltender Dylan Kruss just under the glove and over the pad to tie the game 1-1.
Not long after the game was all knotted up, Daniel Rybarik made good on an odd-man rush by firing a shot short-side from the face-off dot that beat Dawson Pelletier. Rybarik’s third of the pre-season was unassisted. The Silverbacks went into the intermission up 2-1, despite trailing in shots on goal 14-7.
Goaltender Dylan Kruss was busy in net, making 19 saves in the second period. With 3.3 seconds to go in the middle frame, Akito Hirose went to work, getting free in the slot area for a top-corner snipe that gave Salmon Arm some much-needed insurance. Tony Andreozzi got the lone assist on the goal. After two periods, the Silverbacks led 3-1, but trailed in shots 33-17.
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Noah Wakeford kept the Silverback’s momentum going by scoring the Silverbacks’ fourth goal 16 seconds into the third period. The Vipers got one goal back eight minutes later after JoJo Tanaka-Campbell stuffed one in right from the crease to make it a 4-2 game. Following that, the final period wasn’t too eventful other than your usual shenanigans following some crease scrambles, and the Backs’ held on for a 4-2 win.
@CameronJHT
Cameron.thomson@saobserver.net
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