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Capitals Capitalize On Special Teams

Photo Credit: Garrett James

The Cents stumbled on their road swing, as the penalty kill allowed 3 of the 4 goals scored, and the Cowichan Valley Capitals got their second win of the season 4-2.

The start wasn’t atrocious for the Cents, but it left something to be desired as they couldn’t beat rookie Matthew Waite in the first frame. The Capitals managed to beat Austin Roden twice, both goals coming on the powerplay, on deflections from Paul Selleck. Roden stopped 8/10 while Waite stopped 8/8 shots thrown his way.

In the second period, the Cents were able to answer with a powerplay of their own. Mathieu Gosselin got a cross-ice back door feed from Matt Kopperud to make it 2-1, but the Cents couldn’t muster any more offense despite multiple opportunities with the extra man. Despite firing 18 shots on net in the second Waite was only beaten once, while Roden only faced 9 and stopped them all.

The final frame saw the Cents fighting to get back into the game, and they were rewarded when Rylan Van Unen feathered a pass forward for Nick Granowicz who pulled the puck to his forehand in the slot and ripped a shot glove side to tie the game. However, the Capitals used their powerplay to restore the one goal edge, and quickly got some insurance to take it 4-2. Roden stopped 33/37 shots while Wait stopped 32/34.

The Cents lost the special team battle in this game, going 1/7 on the powerplay and surrendering 3/6 on the penalty kill.

Head Coach Joe Martin said getting out to the slow start didn’t help.

“I wasn’t pleased with our start, we got away from ourselves, and we got in an early hole because of it.”

The Cents hope to dig themselves out of the hole, and back in the win column tomorrow afternoon against the Surrey Eagles.