COLWOOD, British Columbia � In the first-ever meeting between the teams, the Victoria Salmon Kings scored three goals in a span of just over three minutes in the third period to down the Mississippi Sea Wolves 5-1 at Bear Mountain Arena.
The Salmon Kings victory was their season-high third consecutive win. Mississippi falls three games below the break-even point with a record of 7-10-2.
�As crazy as it sounds, I believe we outplayed them,� Mississippi coach Bob Woods said. �The score doesn�t indicate the play. We had some bad coverage and giveaways on their goals and they made us pay. We�ll watch the tape again and see if we can clean things up for tomorrow�s (Saturday�s) game. But overall I thought we played pretty well.�
Victoria (6-10-2, 14 points) struck first with the man advantage at the 3:30 mark. Rookie Seth Leonard netted an unassisted goal for his fourth of the season beating goaltender Matt Underhill, who is the Sea Wolves only British Columbia-born player on the team.
Mississippi (7-10-2, 16 points) evened the score at 12:56 of the second. Jeff Hutchins scored a power-play goal, which was his fifth goal in the last three games, for his team-leading 10th of the season getting the puck by Jason Stone. Louis Dumont and Jay Legault picked up assists.
The Salmon Kings went up 2-1 on a Brad Dexter goal, which was his fifth of the campaign at 14:30 of the middle stanza. The goal was set up by Rob Voltera and Mike Barrie, who extended his point streak to 10 games.
In the third, Victoria�s Voltera notched his sixth of the year at 15:32 for an insurance marker. Jeff Williams and Nathan Forster collected assists.
Just over two minutes later, Salmon Kings� Ryan Finnerty put the game away by scoring an unassisted tally for his seventh goal of the season.
Capping off three goals in 3:01, Victoria's Ryan Wade deposited his fifth of the year assisted by Dexter at 18:33.
Mississippi went 1-for-5 on the power play, while Victoria converted on 1-of-6 opportunities with the man advantage. Sea Wolves outshot the Salmon Kings 29-19.
Mississippi continues its season-high six-game road trip at 9 p.m. CT tomorrow against the Salmon Kings at Bear Mountain Arena.
The Sea Wolves next home game is at 7:05 p.m. on Wednesday, December 22 against the Charlotte Checkers at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum.
Individual tickets for Sea Wolves home games can be purchased at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum box office, all Ticketmaster locations, by calling (228) 385-2600 and online at ticketmaster.com.
Flex packs, discounted groups tickets, birthday parties and fundraiser opportunities are available by calling (228) 275-WOLF or online at msseawolves.com.
--- Box Score ---
SCORE BY PERIODS
Mississippi 0 1 0--1
Victoria 1 1 3--5
FIRST PERIOD -- Scoring: 1, Victoria-Leonard 4 (power play)
(unassisted) 3:30. Penalties: O'Leary, MIS (Obstr goalie interfe),
2:19. Plumb, VIC (Interference), 5:06. Jacobson, MIS (Cross checking),
10:37. Forester, VIC (Roughing), 11:33. Drake, MIS (Tripping),
16:59.
SECOND PERIOD -- Scoring: 2, Mississippi-Hutchins 10 (power play)
(Legault; Dumont) 12:56. 3, Victoria-Dexter 5 (game winner) (Voltera;
Barrie) 14:30. Penalties: Corbeil, MIS (Board check), 0:49.
Finnerty, VIC (Roughing), 10:01. Dexter, VIC (Hooking), 12:35.
Bennefield, VIC (Tripping), 15:59.
THIRD PERIOD -- Scoring: 4, Victoria-Voltera 6 (Williams; Forester)
15:32. 5, Victoria-Finnerty 7 (unassisted) 17:37. 6, Victoria-Wade 5
(Dexter) 18:33. Penalties: Drake, MIS (Tripping), 6:46. Legault, MIS
(Holding), 12:57.
SHOTS ON GOAL
Mississippi 7 11 11--29
Victoria 7 5 7--19
Power Play Conversions: Mississippi - 1 of 5, Victoria - 1 of 6.
Goalies: Mississippi-Underhill (19 shots, 14 saves; record: 2-4-2).
Victoria-Stone (29 shots, 28 saves; record: 4-4-2).
A: 2056. Referee: Thiessen. Linesmen: Hull; Edgley.
