Game 22 - Vipers 4 Eagles 3

The Vipers had a lot to prove coming into the final game of a 3 game in 3 night road trip in Surrey.  They had fallen on consecutive nights by a 6-3 margin and confidence looked pretty low in terms of end results.  The Vipers could hang their hats on a very solid third period a night before in Cowichan and the question was whether the Vipers could carry it forward into the Eagles nest.  For the third straight game the Vipers found themselves behind and were forced to battle back, but unlike a night before the Vipers leaned on a good third period and were able to come all the way back from a 3-1 deficit to win 4-3 and salvage a victory on a tough road trip.

Just like the night before, the Vipers had a good start outshooting the Eagles 5-0 at one point.  That was propelled thanks to consecutive powerplays, but the Vipers couldn't take advantage of those chances as the game went back to 5 on 5.  The Eagles would open the scoring as the Vipers failed to get the puck passed the redline only to have Donovan Ott to put home a rebound on a rush the other way to give the home side a 1-0 lead.  The Eagles would increase their lead late in period as newly acquired Brett Stewart would fire a point shot through a maze of bodies. The score after 1 period was 2-0 Surrey.

The Vipers powerplay would help them out again early in the second period, on a 5 on 3, as Latrell Charleson would score from the identical spot he did a night ago with a well place wrist shot with bodies in front to make it 2-1 Surrey.  The Eagles would get a powerplay of their own a few minutes later and a nice cross ice pass from the right point would find Tyler Andrews near circle for the one timer to make it 3-1 Eagles after 2 periods.

Could the Vipers continue their on ice dominance and maybe get some goals passed an impressive Forbes Ploszaj?  The forecheck was relentless early and Cakebread would steal the puck and feed Finlay in front of the net and it was 3-2.  The Eagles got themselves in penalty trouble in the final period and the Vipers would make them pay as Riley Brandt would rifle home a shot from the left circle to tie the game.  Another powerplay would have Mitchell Oliver give his team the lead off a wrist shot with a large crowd in front of the goaltender and the Viper comeback was complete at 4-3.  The Vipers were able to limit the Eagles to just 6 shots in the period and were able to hold on for the win, ending the road trip on a high note.

Here is the official box score:

SCORING SUMMARY

PERIOD 1

1-0 Surrey Eagles at 11:48 - Donovan Ott from Logan Webber

2-0 Surrey Eagles at 18:07 - Brett Stewart from Gunnar Wegleitner and Nick Azar

PERIOD 2

2-1 Vernon Vipers at 4:55 (PP) - Latrell Charleson from Liam Finlay and Odeen Tufto

3-1 Surrey Eagles at 8:18 (PP) - Tyler Andrews from Matthew Hermary and Ryan Jones

PERIOD 3

3-2 Vernon Vipers at 3:16 - Liam Finlay from Christian Cakebread

3-3 Vernon Vipers at 7:41 (PP) - Riley Brandt from Latrell Charleson and Bo Pellah

4-3 Vernon Vipers at 11:23 (PP) - Mitchell Oliver from Jagger Williamson and Riley Brandt

STARS OF THE GAME
1st STAR	2nd STAR	3rd STAR
Vernon Vipers Liam Finlay	Vernon Vipers Riley Brandt	Surrey Eagles Forbes Ploszaj

SCORING	1	2	3	TOTAL
Vernon Vipers	1	0	3	4
Surrey Eagles	3	0	0	3

SHOTS	1	2	3	TOTAL
Vernon Vipers	14	16	22	52
Surrey Eagles	18	6	6	30

POWER PLAYS
Vernon Vipers	3 for 10 (30.0%)
Surrey Eagles	1 for 5 (20.0%)

Could this be the gutcheck win the Vipers needed after losing 4 of their last 5 and finding themselves 2 games behind .500?  It was a nice comeback, but there is still a lot of work for this team to do.  They were much better for longer tonight than they were at any point on this trip.

Good teams make teams pay for a lack of discipline and the Vipers were able to that tonight going 3 for 10 with the man advantage and 2 of those PPG's coming in the third period when down.

They'll look to keep the positives going as they host Merritt on Tuesday night at KTP.  Its an internet only broadcast on MixLR and Fasthockey.  Puck drop 7 pm